Not Joking
by Donnie-o
Summary: Raph wasn't kidding when he said he was going to play a joke on Mikey. Only this time, the joke backfires. Updated AAAAANNNNDDDD completed finally!
1. Not Joking

(Title In Progress)

_Disclaimer: I really wish I owned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I don't. sigh_

_Author's Note: This is in Michelangelo's point of view, except a few parts. Just so that nobody's confused._

_**Chapter 1 - Not Joking**_

"C'mon, he's overdue for one anyway. D'you remember last year? I seem to recall him calling you 'numb bum' for a month after that!"

"I know… but…"

"Please? Puh-leez?"

A resigned sigh sounded. "All right, but if any of my equipment gets broken, it's your shell."

"Thanks bro! You are the turtle!"

Donatello shook his head, "You're never going to get Splinter to agree to play along you know."

Raphael smirked, "Just watch. I have amazing powers of persuasion."

* * *

I love horror films! Nothing beats the spine-tingling sensation you get when that scary monster comes onto the screen, or when something jumps out from the darkness, making me spill my popcorn when I dive underneath a pillow.

Actually, I think I've been watching too many horror films lately. For some reason, I've been hearing things. Well, more like I've been hearing _people_. Or some**one**...as if all of the sudden I'm _living_ a horror movie.

Lemme explain. I woke up this morning not to the usual sound of Master Splinter saying "Michelangelo, it is time for our early-morning practice," but to some weird, creepy muttering, or growling, or something. I don't exactly remember what it was saying, because I was still a little groggy. But let me tell you, my neck hairs stood on end. That is, they _would_ have been standing on end, if I had any neck hairs.

Imagine, there you are in your nice warm bed, in a deep sleep and dreaming of pizza, and you hear something completely unearthly, and frankly quite terrifying. Think of a voice akin to Frankenstein's monster, Shredder's, and Raphael's voice when angry and… and… I dunno _what _else, all mixed together to create a sound that would make even Silver Sentry shiver.

At first, I couldn't figure out why I had even woken up. Then my ears discovered the sound. I cracked open an eyelid, involuntarily pulling my blanket up to my head, searching for the source of the sound. Nothing looked out of place, and nobody was in my room. I actually was about to start really wigging out, when I thought of something.

I burst out into laughter, "Very funny Don, but you're gonna have to do better than that! Nobody can scare me! I'm the prank _champion_!" I stood up, and listened hard. The noise had disappeared.

I smiled, satisfied, grabbed my nun-chucks, and headed down to the dojo, ready to do a little pay-back in our training session today.

When I reached the dojo, I found Leonardo and Splinter already there, Leonardo stretching in preparation to practice.

Raphael and Donatello weren't downstairs yet. And I knew exactly why, too. I began stretching the morning stiffness out of my limbs, waiting for my tardy brothers to join us. There must have been a smug smile on my face.

When Raph and Donnie finally decided to come downstairs, I was ready and waiting to open up a big can of kick-butt on Donnie. After all, _he _is the guy with all the techno-junk that could make those creepy noises.

My brothers stretched out, and then Splinter gave instruction.

"My sons, we will begin with simple sparring. Pair off."

I could have kissed Splinter's furry face for letting us choose our sparring partner. Except I knew that I would get thwacked over the head with his walking stick, so I contained myself and called over to my brother.

"Hey Donnie, you're my partner."

Donatello shrugged. "Okay, Mikey."

I narrowed my eyes at him. He seemed nonchalant, but I knew that underneath that cool, calm exterior, he silently congratulated himself over his apparent victory.

Did he even know that I knew it was him?

We faced off. Being the one that is considered to be the youngest, my brothers always assume that I prefer to goof-off during practice—which a lot of the time, I do—but sometimes I will use this preconceived notion to my advantage. Splinter always tells us to use the element of surprise. And I do. More than even my brothers realize.

But I was gonna let my brother _think_ that he was going to have a goof-off for a partner first.

"You've got to ask yourself," I told Donatello, imitating Clint Eastwood. "are you ready? Well, are ya, punk?" I leaped toward him with my nun-chucks a-whirling.

Donatello blocked my attack easily with his bo, and counter-struck with the opposite end. "Ready for what?"

I parried the blow, and backed off a bit. "Ready for a butt-whoopin'?" with that, I came in hot and fast, mixing a blow with my nun-chucks in tandem, plus a roundhouse kick directly towards his chest.

Poor Donnie had nowhere to parry. He barely blocked a chuck, and was able to strike down my leg with his bow, but my other chuck following the first one he did not expect, and I managed to knock him down.

This attracted everyone's attention, including Donnie's. He sat rubbing his arm for a second with a confused expression on his face while I stood triumphantly over my prey.

With both hands atop his walking stick, Splinter advised, "Donatello, pay attention, and don't loose focus." Turning to me, he said, "Good control, Michelangelo."

Leonardo shook his head while still sparring with Raphael. "Geeze, Mikey. Slow down. Even _I_ know that this is just an exercise."

As Donatello stood, I came at him again with the same intensity. "I know…"Swing and punch, "but I must have some extra energy this morning…" duck, and swipe with one leg, "from all the adrenalin I'm pumping…" block bo and swing with chuck, "from that practical joke Donny played on me this morning!" I did a flip over Donatello's head, and struck from behind. Donny would have been able to block it, but he seemed less awake this morning than usual, and he once again fell to the ground.

He groaned. "What are you talking about? What joke?" He got to his feet once more.

I smiled, shaking my head. "You should know that I am the _only _turtle here that can pull off playing dumb!" I came at him again.

He decided to stop being on the defensive, and switched into attack mode. "I'm _not_ playing dumb!" He lunged with his stick, and bapped me a good one on the shin.

"Ow!" I went into a roll, and leaped back up to my feet, trying to get in through his defense. "Right, and the only techno geek in our family is…?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Blocking my attacks with more focus, knowing now that he had to be more in the zone with me than usual, he used his bo as a vaulting stick, and leaped over to the side, feinted to the right, and struck to the left. I went down this time.

But I didn't stay down. I rolled before he could pin me to the ground, and spun into a leap to get out of the way. "Who else could have made those creepy noises without your gear?"

"Noises?" He came after me again, spinning his bo like a baton-twirler.

"You know, the Darth Vader mixed with the Grudge. Sound familiar?" I ducked, not wanting to tangle with the velocity of his bo, and swiped up once more.

He blocked the stroke, and kicked toward my chest, apparently trying to wind me. Was he trying to silence me?

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said.

I blocked the kick with my arm, and was about to accuse him again, but I heard something. Despite my being in both a heated argument with my brother, and a heated spar, I could hear it.

It was a thin, chilling, fluty whisper. _"…you…" _it said.

I stopped in my attack, and listened. Donatello took the opportunity to bring me down with his bo. I landed on the ground. "Mphf!" I held up my hands, "Wait! Donnie, wait! Did you hear that?"

He stopped just short of getting me really good with his bo. Splinter was shaking his head, probably thinking to himself about how I had really good form just a few minutes ago, and how he is amazed at how quickly I lost control. I would have kicked myself in the shell for loosing focus so fast. But it sounded like someone was in the lair, and I didn't want to ignore it, just in case.

Donatello stopped for a moment, and listened. "I didn't hear anything."

I stood on my feet, my nun-chucks in my hands, ready for anything.

Leonardo and Raphael actually paused in their spar, looking at Don and me with confused faces.

"Um, Mikey," Raphael said, "You're acting more odd than normal."

"Shhhhhhh!" Listening hard for footsteps, or any other sign that someone might be in the lair, I didn't need his big mouth muffling the sounds.

Then it came once more. But now that I was actually paying attention to the sound, I could hear the whole thing.

"_Michelangelo…I want…you…" _

"Gaaaa!" I shivered involuntarily. "There! Did'ja guys hear it?"

They looked at one another, and then looked back at me. Leonardo spoke up. "We didn't hear anything Mikey."

I narrowed my eyes at them. Was this just another prank? Were they all in it together? I looked between each of them, searching for a sign of laughter, or something.

"But it said, "Michelangelo, I want you." I said, pleading in my voice for them to give up the joke.

Not a chance. They all shook their heads, looking very confused at my apparent nonsense.

But I didn't just imagine it! I looked over to Splinter, knowing that he would not lie for a joke. If it were a joke, I knew he would tell me.

"Master Splinter. Didn't you hear it?" _Please say you heard it, please say you heard it._

Master Splinter sighed. "Michelangelo, I did not hear anything."

My hand started to quiver. I looked at him, then back at my brothers. Then back at him. "You've got to be kidding!"

Master Splinter then narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you believe I would lie?"

I shook my head, "No Master Spli—"

"_Michelangelo…I…want you…" _

"AHHHH!" I turned around, and looked, expecting to see someone, or maybe a speaker of Donnie's, but nothing was there. That voice made my skin crawl!

"There! There! Tell me someone heard it that time!" I looked around to my family. They began to have a worried expression on their faces. Especially Master Splinter.

Personally, I had had enough. "Guys, this isn't funny! I swear, if someone doesn't fess up, then I swear you will have to watch _every step_ you take for the next several months! You'll have pranks coming out of your ears—"

"Mikey, calm down." Raphael came over to me, holding up his hands. "I promise, none of us have any idea what you're talking about!"

I didn't like that idea. I didn't like it at all.

Master Splinter cleared his throat. "Perhaps you should drink some tea, Michelangelo. I believe there is a pot cooking on the stove. Get yourself a cup."

I shivered once more. That tea actually sounded really good at the moment. I walked into the kitchen. Pouring myself a cup, I was struck with a thought. _Why didn't Splinter pour me a cup? He usually does that…_

Because he wanted to be alone with the others…?

Bringing my cup with me, I snuck back to the dojo, hiding behind a post, and listened to them.

"Master Splinter," Raphael sounded like he was trying to defend himself, "I swear, Mikey is just being dumb. I didn't pull anything during today's practice."

"But you did tell me that you were planning on playing a joke on your brother, and that I needed to 'pretend I didn't hear anything.'"

"Ok, I'll admit, I did pull that prank on him this morning."

"Yeah," Donatello interjected, "And made _me_ take the blame for it!"

_Oho! _I thought, _So it was Raphie-boy!_ My brain began to race, trying to think up an appropriate punishment for him.

Leonardo put in, "But it isn't like Mikey to just hear things.

I nodded, _that's very true, Leo._

There was a silence.

I decided that it would be a perfect time to 'come back' from the kitchen.

I stepped out from behind the post, and said, "I'm telling you, I wasn't 'just hearing things'!"

They all jumped. That is, everyone except for Master Splinter. Of course he knew that I was there all along.

"Ah shell." Raph said. He knew I heard his confession.

"This does not make things any simpler, Michelangelo." Splinter said, "If we cannot hear what you are hearing…"

Raph filled in for him. "Then you really _are_ loosing it, Mikey."

Leonardo slapped him upside the head. "Not funny Raph."

I would have gloated at the fact that it was Raph, and not _me _that got hit, but I was too freaked out to even notice.

I looked at them, and then shook my head. "Maybe I've just been watching too many horror films lately."

Without looking to see a reaction from any of them, I decided to finish my cup of tea in the kitchen.

But before I was out of earshot, I heard Donatello mutter, "Somehow, I just don't think that's what it is."


	2. Not Alone

_**Chapter 2 – Not Alone**_

When Leo needs to blow off steam, he practices hard. Raph punches the life out of our old punching bag when he needs to blow off steam. And Donnie usually manages to find something tech-head-like to do to blow of any steam he might have.

I goof-off.

Well, not exactly 'goof-off.' More like go find something that satisfies my need for speed. Skateboarding in the sewers usually does the trick. And wouldn't you know it, I managed to find the perfect spot too. It was an abandoned junction that looked like a skateboarder's heaven from the moment I first laid eyes on it! There were hand rails for grinding, slopes for jumping, and even the now dry drainage 'bowl' that made an excellent half-pike. Even if it was a miniature one.

Sensei always says the best way to meditate is in quieting your mind and your body, controlling your breathing, and sitting in these really awkward positions. In _my_ opinion, I get better meditating done when I'm in motion, being one with the board, feeling the wind blow through my hair—I mean, _face_—and expending my energy.

And right now, I had a lot on my mind.

Naturally, I picked up my board and began making my way through the tunnel system, to my haven of skateboard mania.

I arrived at the junction within several minutes. Throwing down my board, I began to tear up the place. I started with warming up in the half-pike bowl, doing easy 180's and backscratchers.

Thinking through what had happened this morning, I came to the two obvious conclusions. One: my brothers are pulling a _really_ extravagant joke on me, one in which even Splinter is a part of, which seemed very unlikely. All my life, I've never heard a single lie come out of the mouth of my father. He _always_ tells the truth. It's true, sometimes he keeps his mouth shut when he feels like being mysterious, a thing not too uncommon for him. But whenever he tells me or my brothers anything, it is always the absolute truth. So to have Sensei lie about hearing things would be just as foreign as… well… as the Shredder all of the sudden becoming a nice guy. It just didn't seem possible.

I flipped out of the bowl, with my skateboard, and headed for a slope.

The other possibility…

Boarding up the slope and back down, I managed to get enough air to skid my skateboard across the guardrails to the catwalks along the side of the junction. But I jumped off too late. I took a tumble.

The other possibility I just didn't want to think about.

Because if it wasn't my brothers, then I, to quote Raph, 'really _am_ loosing it.'

I got up once more, and began to skate in the bowl again. This time, I began to do harder tricks; 360's, flips, and combos. I could feel my heart really begin to pump hard, and my breathing came faster.

But I _wasn't_ loosing it!

If all of the sudden my own mind decided it wanted to prank me, I would think it would choose to do something a little more humorous than some creepy voice, saying that it wanted me.

And what was up with that? What did it even mean? Did it mean it wanted me for my bright and cheery personality? Did it want 'me' as in my soul? Did it want my sanity? I hoped not, because apparently I didn't have _that_ anymore.

I skated to the top of the bowl, and ground the edge of it into concrete powder as I skid along the rim. I paused on the rim, breathing heavily.

"I'm not going crazy." I told myself.

* * *

"I'm really worried about Mikey," Donatello said, as he walked into his brother's room.

Leonardo, who had been sitting on his bed reading a book about ancient Japanese swords, looked up. His face mirrored his brother's worried expression. "I know. Mike's never just heard things out of the blue before."

Donatello sat down on the edge of Leonardo's bed. "You do know what this sounds like, don't you?"

Leonardo shrugged. "No. But it almost seems like Mikey's playing us. You know, getting us back for what Raph did to him this morning."

"No way, Leo." That was Raphael. He'd been standing by the doorway, listening. "Did you see the look on his face? Mikey wasn't pretending. Not this time." He came in, and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.

Donatello sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I wish he _were_ pretending. I looked up his symptoms online. If he really is hearing things that aren't there, he might have a mental disorder called schizophrenia."

All three of them frowned.

"I hope you're jokin', Don." Raphael said, standing up. He knew that Michelangelo might be many things—mainly annoying—but he definitely was _not_ a psycho.

Donatello shook his head, grim-faced.

Leonardo closed his book. "If he does, then what are we going to do?"

Frowning a little more, Raphael said, "Leo, _first _let's just give him the benefit of the doubt, all right? We can worry about what we're going to do later." His voice was beginning to rise.

Donatello put a hand on his arm. "Easy Raph."

Sighing, Leonardo stood up, "Can turtles even get human mental disorders?"

"I don't know Leo. I really don't."

* * *

You know what I hate most in the world? It's being left behind, or being ignored, or being the only one. You know the feeling? I just _hated_ being the only one that could hear that creepy voice. So when Raph came into my room in the middle of the night with something serious to tell me, I could only laugh, and dance around my room in victory.

He came into my room, in the middle of the night. Usually, I would have been in a sour mood. But then he told me something.

"Mikey," He said, holding his hands over his ears. Well, not that he _has_ ears or anything, but he had his hands over the place where his ears _would_ have been. "Mikey, I can't sleep."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, _I _can!" I tried to roll over and fall back asleep, but Raphael put a hand on my shoulder.

"No Mikey, I think…" He blew air from his lips. "I think I'm hearing that voice you said you heard this morning."

I looked at him for a second, blinked, and then bounced out of my bed. "Wooohooo! I'm not crazy after all! I'm not crazy af—"

"Mikey, shut up! I don't wanna wake the others just yet." Raph pulled me back down onto my bed.

I smirked at him. "Sorry bro. But I just couldn't resist." We sat on my bed in a moment of silence to see if the others had heard my noise. Not a sound came from the rest of the lair.

I shook my head. "By the way, that prank you pulled this morning? It was probably the lamest one I've ever come across."

Raphael growled a bit at me. "Yeah, well I shoulda known you were going to come up with something… I wasn't _done_ with the prank just yet. I wanted to screw with your head. I thought it was high time someone pranked you for a change."

"Heh. Looks like someone beat ya to the punch, bro." I said.

He was quiet for a second, then said, "Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better."

_That _was an understatement! It hit me all of the sudden.

If that voice thingy wasn't my bros, and it wasn't just me (thank my lucky stars!) then it had to be _someone_ or _something._

I shivered involuntarily. "Okay, I officially can't sleep now." I got up, and stretched out.

Raphael nodded once. "For once I agree with you."

A thought sprang to my mind. "Well, if we can't sleep, then I challenge you to a skating duel!"

"Naw, Mikey, I don't think that—"

"Wassa matter? You worried you might loose? Too scared to take me on?" I taunted, flexing my arms in pro-wrestler style. "Although I don't blame you, bro. I am a lot to handle!"

Raphael stood up, and said, "I could take you blindfolded!"

"Ha. I seriously doubt _that_."

"You wanna put your money where your oversized mouth is?" Raphael said, jumping up and out of my room.

I smirked and watched him make his way out of my room. Raphael is so very easy when it comes to getting him to do what you want him to do. All you have to do is call him a weakling, and he just _has_ to prove you wrong. Raphie is almost my favorite brother when it comes to that.

I grabbed my nun chucks and skateboard, and headed downstairs. We met at the bottom, Raphael with his rollerblades slung over his shoulder, and his sais in hand.

Why the weapons, you ask? When we were younger, Master Splinter took advantage of our competitive nature to change up our ninjitsu studies one time. He observed that we were really getting a good handle on ninjitsu, and that we began to branch our interests into other athletic activities. For instance, I loved this old skateboard that I'd found in the junkyard when I went with Donatello on one of his outings. Donatello built a bike, just 'cause he likes building things. Then he figured he ought to try it out. Lemme tell ya, I don't think I was ever more afraid for my life—he obviously didn't know how to use it. Raphael found he like rollerblades when he saw a commercial on television of a shoe that doubles as a blade. And since he saw Donatello make a bike, he figured that Donnie would be kind enough to make him blades. I never did figure out why Leo, the perfectionist leader bent on showing everyone up (at least that's what it seemed like at the time) chose a scooter. Maybe he liked the fact that it was like a skateboard with handles to do tricks on… but it always looked so dumb to me.

In any case, Splinter saw our new toys, and that sly old rat figured out a way to incorporate them with ninjitsu. Just place us four turtles on our chosen wheelies inside an enclosed space, give us our weapons, tell us to fight one another, and say the turtle that falls down the last is the winner. Boy, that set in motion something that day that us four turtles decided to call 'The Day That We Almost Died.' Picture four turtles going at high speeds and trying to beat the shell out of each other, or knock each other over, to be called the 'winner.' If you can't imagine what it was like, that's because it was something you had to just experience.

Guess who won. Yeah that's right. Leo. On the sissy scooter.

Raphael and I made it to the Skateboard Heaven within minutes, and we began to roll. I pulled out my nun chucks, and skateboarded into the bowl. Raphael pulled down the wheels on his shoe-blades, and skated to the slopes. I began to spin my nun-chucks.

"Ready bro? 'Cause you don't look ready." I taunted again.

In reply, Raphael spun his sais, and nodded.

I then said one of my favorite lines of all time. "Let's dance!"

On my cue, Raph began to skate toward me, and I flipped out of the bowl. In less than a second, Raphael and I had come head to head. He tried to fork me with a sai as he flew past me. I knocked the blow out of the way, and did a tight u-turn to keep from running into a wall. Raphael headed toward the bowl, did a flip, and came right back out with more momentum. Unfortunately, I had lost some of my own momentum pulling that sharp turn, and I new that I needed some more, or I'd be knocked down for sure. Raphael came speeding at me as if he had rocket boosters attached to his feet.

I didn't have much time. Fortunately for me, I did have enough speed to pull off something that might work in time. I jumped onto a handrail, and began grinding just as Raphael zoomed on by. With my slide slowing down, I planted my hands onto the rail, pushed into a flip, and flew behind my brother, ready to knock him clean out of the running with my nun-chucks, until…

"What are you two doing!" Came a yell from the entrance to the junction.

Raphael and I both jumped, and turned our heads. It was a lucky thing that Raphael was in _front_ of me, because just then a wall decided to pop up out of nowhere. We both slammed into it, and due to my good fortune, I had a cushion named Raph to keep me safe. I love my brother sometimes.

We both tumbled into a heap, and Raphael growled, "Get _off_ of me, Mikey."

I complied, and then looked toward the entrance.

Both Donatello and Leonardo stood there, with grins on their faces.

I yelled back at them, "Whaddaya mean, 'what are we doing?' What does it _look _like we're doing?"

Leonardo called back, "Yeah, but why are you doing it _without _us?"

With that, he whipped out from behind him his scooter, (yeah, he _still_ has that thing) and began to scoot toward Raphael and I.

Following closely behind on his bicycle, Donatello called, "You didn't think you could leave us behind, did you?"

Raphael, still rubbing his head from our impact against the wall, muttered, "We thought you guys were still asleep."

Donatello screeched sideways to a halt. "Who could sleep with Michelangelo hollering like that?"

I just shrugged.

We all looked at each other for a second. Then Donatello whipped out his bo, and tagged me on the shoulder with it. Before I could do anything, Don high-wheeled it away from our little group.

"Yeow!" I cried. _Oh, Donnie, you are so gonna get it._ I thought.

Pulling out my chucks, I followed him. Leonardo and Raphael followed closely from behind. The duel had just begun.

A word of advice when dueling on wheels. The faster you go, the more able you are to avoid being hit, and also to deliver a power-packed punch. Which is also the reason why you don't want to get distracted by something completely out of the ordinary.

I saw on my way to avenge myself of my brother's tag a weird white-ish glow that seemed to lurk on the corner of my vision. I turned my head to see what it was. There was a flash.

Then that bone-chilling voice came to my ears once more. "_Michelangelo…I want…you."_

"Aahhhhh!" I jumped when I heard the voice, and I heard Raphael give a yell as well.

I tumbled and slid nearly the length of the entire room because I had been going at mach 2 on my skateboard.

My three brothers crowded around me.

I groaned for a second, rubbing my head, and my eyes. That creepy white light had vanished, along with the voice.

"Guys," I said, "I think it's getting worse."


	3. H:a:unted

_**Chapter 3 – H(a)unted**_

"So, it only ever has said, 'Michelangelo, I want you.'?" Donatello questioned.

I sat on a chair in front of his work table, while he grilled me with questions. I nodded my head miserably.

Butting in, Raphael added, "That's not the _only_ thing it's said. When I started hearing it, I heard it say something like 'beware' or 'be wary' or something." He had been standing just behind Donatello.

I shook my head, "But what about just a few minutes ago, in the junction? I distinctly heard it say, 'Michelangelo, I want you.'" I put up my hands and began making 'Ghost Fingers.'

Raphael shook his head, "Nope. It said 'Michelangelo is brainless.'"

I looked at him for a second in surprise, and then rolled my eyes. "It did not."

Shrug. "It said, 'beware.'" He said.

"And then you saw a glow just a few minutes ago?" Donatello asked.

Both Raphael and I nodded.

I held up my hand, like a little kid in a classroom. "Donnie, can I go to bed now?"

Shaking his head, Donatello answered seriously, "We need to figure out what is happening. I want to look up what you're describing on the net. Maybe I can pull up some info…"

He walked over to his computer and began typing.

Leonardo had been listening quietly in a corner, some form of deep contemplation showing on his face. Actually, whenever I see him with that look on his face, I become much less worried. It's a weird brother thing I know, but it's because that look means he's coming up with a plan. And I sure need a plan right now. Because if I don't die for the uncontrollable shaking in my shell that I've been doing, I sure would die because of a heart attack! Either way, I felt a little more comfortable seeing that expression on his face.

He spoke up. "I think we need to talk to Master Splinter about this."

"About what, my sons?" Came a voice from behind all of us.

Ok, maybe I take that back. If Master Splinter ever sneaks up on me like that again, I am _going_ to have a heart attack! We all jumped, and personally, I think I completely left my shell behind.

Once we got calm, and collected our wits again, Leonardo explained the problem. Donatello looked up from his computer to see the look on Master Splinter's face as Leo unfolded the story before our Sensei.

At first there was a look of slight amusement to see that his students had taken so fondly to the competitive game of skateboard dueling (especially _me!)_, but then grew troubled at the description of what both Raphael and I saw and heard. That, combined with a reiteration of how I had been hearing things this morning sent our Sensei's whiskers a-quiver.

After Leonardo had explained everything, Splinter inhaled, and turned toward me. He walked up to me with an unsteady look in his eyes. And without any sort of explanation, he grabbed hold of my right wrist, and pulled my arm straight. I muffled a cry of surprise and watched as Sensei muttered a few words—sort of a chant in a monotone—trailing his fingers up from my wrist to my inner forearm. A tingling sensation filled my whole arm, which changed to a dull ache—which then without warning violently burned!

"YEOWCH!" I shouted, and tried to pull away.

But Sensei merely held on, and watched my arm. Faintly at first, but then more and more prominently, a mark appeared, something that resembled a Japanese symbol, yet it wasn't any sort of letter I was familiar with. It had a vertical T sort of mark, but with a longer stem, with two curving slash marks through the stem going from the bottom left side to the upper right. In the little angle on the lower half, there was a single dot. It glowed a strange sort of light blue.

Sensei closed his eyes. "Yasha." He muttered.

All four of us looked at each other in confusion. Especially me. See, even when Sensei is speaking in the same language, I sometimes have a hard time understanding him, so when he decides to go mutter something unintelligible, my head starts to spin.

"Yasha?" Leonardo asked.

Splinter opened his eyes. Letting go of my arm, (while I took the opportunity to massage the new, and very creepy mark on my inner forearm) he looked at us very seriously. "My sons, there are some things about the multi-verse that no one can explain, or know. In my life I have come across some things that no explanation can even come close to describing the reality."

There was something in the tone of Splinter's voice—something strained and altogether frightening—that made us all slowly gather around him. Even Donatello—who had been half-focused on his computer, and half-focused on what Sensei had been doing—tore himself away from his computer to listen, knowing that whatever it was that Splinter was about to tell us, he wanted to hear it with both ears. I shivered, and my skin crawled with people-bumps.

Splinter looked at me with intense eyes. My own eyes locked with his, and I found myself unable to even move, much less look away.

"Michelangelo appears to have been Marked. It's is not merely a physical mark, and no explanations can successfully explain the many planes that being a Marked One exists upon. It is physical, spiritual, temporal, transcendental, and rare. Inescapable".

His hand began to shake. He steadied it upon his walking stick.

"I saw it once, a long time ago…" His voice trailed off, and his eyes became distant, as if he were reliving something from his past. By the look on his face, I could tell that it hadn't been a pleasant experience.

"Sensei?" I asked, trying to snap him out of it. He was really creeping me out!

Donatello, sensing my discomfort, also asked, "Where did you learn how to do that, Master Splinter? That thing with Mikey's arm, I mean." He leaned over to look at the Mark. It had stopped glowing, and now looked like a black tattoo. I yanked my arm away.

"Don, could you not do the techno-geek thing just now?" I said, my tone a little more snappish than necessary.

Donatello grinned that sheepish grin of his, the one that says "I just can't help it!"

Splinter, coming out of his reverie, looked at Donatello, "My son, there are times when telling a story would help. This time, I'm afraid, would only cause problems to the situation."

Raph spoke up, "But Sensei, what exactly _is_ the problem?"

I looked at him, "You mean, _besides_ having a weird tattoo on my arm that I didn't put there to begin with?"

Leo added, "And what is _Yasha?_"

Splinter let out a shaky breath. I could tell he was very troubled, and that he was much calmer on the outside than the inside. Being family members, we all had the ability to sense a family member's inner turmoil. We all felt it coming thick from Master Splinter. Whatever it was he had to say was going to be very difficult to hear.

"Futari Yasha are Demons. They are not from this world, or even from this plane of existence." He said slowly, and—growing with each word he spoke—with anguish. "The Japanese first discovered their existence, as they were the first people to be Marked by the Yasha. Those who were marked…" He paused.

"What Sensei?" We all asked him.

"Died."

I furrowed my eyebrows, not really getting what he was saying. "Are you saying that I'm gonna die?"

Splinter's eyes had a pained look. "Within days of the Mark being discovered upon their bodies, they would die. There isn't any record of someone… surviving." He whispered the last word.

I looked at him through wide eyes. Was he being serious? He couldn't mean that… I mean, there just wasn't any way! I mean, I just couldn't…

I burst out into laughter, the sound startling everyone for it seemed out of place even to me. But seriously, all this was, all it _could_ be was some sort of grandiose joke meant to frighten me out of my wits. "You can't be serious."

They all looked at me. Raph had a look of shock on his face, Leo's face was disbelief, and Donnie's face had a mixture of both. Splinter's face was deadly serious, and even tormented looking. No one answered.

I tried to defend my position, "I mean, _Raphie _boy here has also been hearing things too! Why don't you do that little mumbo jumbo on _him_! What if _he's_ Marked too?"

"So what if I am?" Raph challenged.

I paused. Good question. Maybe it was because I didn't want to be alone in all of this. I didn't answer.

Master Splinter looked at Raphael through serious eyes. He seemed hesitant to do his little hocus pocus number on him, maybe because he was afraid of the outcome. However, he walked up to Raphael.

Raph backed away, now frightened as well, "But Sensei, I wasn't… I didn't—"

Splinter swiftly grabbed his arm, and muttered the chant, once again trailing his fingers up from Raph's wrist, to his inner forearm.

We waited a few seconds.

Nothing happened.

I deflated. No. It couldn't really be… just me?

Donatello seemed hesitant to ask, but of course, he just _had_ to. "So, Master Splinter… do you know what's going to happen?"

Master Splinter nodded. "It will hunt. It can only do this at night, when the sunlight is not touching the soil upon which the soul it haunts stands."

"H-ha-haunts?" I stuttered.

"Futari Yasha, or a singular Yasha needs fear. It's only this emotion that ties it to this plane."

"Fear?" Leonardo asked.

Splinter nodded. "Another unexplainable phenomenon. Perhaps, because the Yasha itself is a creature that seems to be made of fear."

"But didn't it start hunting Mikey this mornin'?" Raph asked.

Leonardo said, "We were probably up before the sun. It _is_ January after all."

I shook my head. "I don't like this game. It's like having a staring contest. Only, it's some creature trying to make me afraid, instead of blink, and the grand prize is my life." I looked around at all of them.

"Then do not fear." Splinter counseled.

I sighed. "You say that as though it's even possible, Sensei."

Splinter lowered his head, "I'm an optimist at heart, my son."

* * *

Have you ever watched those Hallmark videos where someone is told that they have cancer, and are going to die in three months? There's always that period of denial. After Splinter wisely advised us to go and sleep, and after I lay down in my bed, I found myself thinking about everything that Sensei had revealed, and everything that I had been experiencing. And I found myself rubbing that Mark on my arm, almost willing it to just disappear.

And I came to a conclusion.

If I didn't believe it, and if I just refused to acknowledge that anything could be wrong, and if I just refused to let it be _real,_ I would win. Being a champion prankster, I knew that the prank was a dud if the one you pull it one doesn't react to it. I smiled, as I pulled the covers up over my body. Just let someone try to tell me I'm being haunted. I mean _hunted!_ They were definitely in for a surprise.

I would win by being in a state of utter denial!

The next morning came, and instead of waiting for Sensei to wake me up as I usually do, I jumped out of bed, waiting to see the surprise on their faces when they saw the smile that was on _my _face. Because, I had come to the conclusion that nothing had happened yesterday. Absolutely nothing!

I flipped from the top level to the bottom, landing smoothly, and headed to the dojo. I had even beat Leonardo there. I don't think I've ever done that before.

I even broke out into whistling as I stretched. It was that really annoying tune from Snow White "Whistle While You Work," that somehow always gets stuck in my head. It attracted attention too. Everyone came into the dojo, and stood dumbfounded as they watched me happily stretching and whistling.

"Um, Mikey, are you feeling all right?" Donatello asked, rubbing his head in confusion. "I mean after last night, I thought we'd have to drag you out of bed this morning…" He trailed off as my whistling grew louder.

I smirked, and looked up at him. "What happened last night?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the extreme and utter mystified expressions on their faces. Master Splinter actually looked the worst of all. He seemed to have not slept at all. I guessed he spent the night in meditation. After a few more seconds of silence, I went back to whistling.

That broke the spell, and Splinter directed the others to join me in stretches. I think Raphael was the only one that seemed to get it though. I watched his face go from confusion to understanding as we stretched in silence. Well, _almost_ silence, anyway—I was still whistling.

Then it came. My resolve almost deteriorated right there, when I heard that bone chilling, fluty, whispery voice say, "_Michelangelo…I want…you._"

But I absolutely refused to _let_ it get me.

I saw Raphael look up at me out of the corner of my eye, and he furrowed his eyebrow ridges. "Um, Mikey, did you hear—"

"Nope!" I interrupted. "I didn't hear anything at all!"

With that, I jumped up, ready and waiting to begin practice.

Leonardo and Donatello still looked rather lost at my newfound attitude.

Ok, so I admit I might have been taking it a little overboard… but then again, when my life is at stake, _nothing _is overboard!

Splinter once again began our training session with sparring. But this time he paired us up. I wound up facing Raphael.

I pulled out my chucks, and initialized the spar with an immediate downward stroke. Raphael dodged, and counter-struck with a right hook from his sai. Prepared for that, I whirled my other chuck around, intending to disarm him. He pulled his hand back in time, and also caught my chuck in his left sai. We circled and pulled apart, looking for an opening.

"Michelangelo, that swing should have been higher, which would have circumvented it getting caught in your brother's sai." I heard Sensei critique.

"Yeah, Mikey," Raphael said as he came toward me, spinning the sais. "I could see _that _one coming from a mile…" His voice petered out. But his lips kept moving.

I lowered my chucks. _What?_ I thought, confused.

Raph had stopped talking at the look of confusion on my face. I looked around. Sparring, Donnie and Leo hadn't noticed that Raphael and I had stopped, and Leo brought his katana down onto Donnie's bo. But where the clunk of metal on wood _should_ have been, I heard absolutely nothing.

Raphael turned me around to face him. I could tell he was saying my name, but I couldn't hear anything he said!

I spoke, "I can't hear!"

It sounded as if I were underwater! I could barely even hear myself.

Then it came once more. Except for this time, I could see it.

Over in the corner of our dojo, which I had _thought _was unoccupied, now was filled with a bright white light. Its light slowly spread as I turned to look at it. It filled my vision, blocking out my brothers. Blocking out Splinter. And finally, blocking out the lair itself. I was surrounded in white, bathed in it. I couldn't see.

I heard it; the only thing I could hear. "_Michelangelo, I want you…"_

My heart pumped hard. I could feel adrenaline pumping through my body. I was starting to succumb to fear.

I stuck out my chin, refusing to give up. "You can't have me, creepazoid!"

Then I heard it chuckle. Well, not really _heard_, but more like, _felt._ It was like some sort of vibration that emanated from its direction.

It was a white light with an attitude!

Something moved in my vision. Unable to really see anything other than white, when that thing—the Yasha, or whatever it was—moved, it was like looking at an outline, really I couldn't make much out. I could feel it come closer.

I tried to back away, but something prevented me from even lifting up my feet.

My heart began to beat faster, and my breathing came quick.

_No!_ I told myself. _This is just an overglorified… this isn't happening… it's…_

My denial wasn't working!

It came closer, and slowly became less of a vague outline. The first thing I could see was its eyes. Creepy things, black, and as big a saucers for teacups. They shifted, and glittered. It spoke once more.This time, I could feel it when it talked, like the vibrations from its voice were caressing my skin, making my skin prickle.

"_Welcome, Michelangelo…" _It said, the voice whispery, and fluty. It slowly came closer. "_I wanted you here…"_

"What do you want!" I cried, shivering, a cold feeling washing over me.

"_I am hungry…" _It was close, and I could make out a pale arm reaching for me.

"What do you want!" I cried once more.

"_I want…you…" _It touched me. It touched the Mark on my arm, its translucent and almost unreal fingers reaching into the mark… slowly they retracted, bringing out a blue and silvery looking substance from my arm… from the Mark.

It hurt! It felt as though some sort of electric current were running through my body, and out of my arm. It felt like my whole body had fallen asleep and was now waking up with pins and needles. Like it was draining me…

Suddenly, a scream penetrated my whole body. But it wasn't me screaming. It came from the Yasha. A horrible, and high-pitched shriek of pain. I heard words in the scream.

"_AAAIIEE!" The shriek persisted, "…sunlight approaches! Damn the Dawn!"_

It withdrew.

Darkness came, darkness drowned out the unbearable light, darkness soothed my skin.

I crumbled to the ground, breathing heavily.

Slowly, my vision returned, and slowly, I began to hear once more. The darkness became replaced with the familiar electric lighting of the dojo, and I could feel hands on my arms. Slowly, very slowly, I could hear…

"…Mikey… "

"…Michelangelo, are you…"

"Can you hear me, my son?"

Splinter's voice came through the impenetrable the loudest to my ears.

I was kneeling on the ground, my brothers surrounded me. Leo had one of my arms, and Raph had the other, supporting me, keeping me from falling completely to the ground. Donatello had a hand on my shoulder, and Master Splinter stood in front of me. I looked up at him, shaky.

"M-master Splinter…" I croaked. My voice sounded hoarse.

Splinter knelt down in front of me, and laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Master Splinter," I whispered, "It found me."


	4. One Last Day

_**Chapter 4 – One Last Day**_

They all looked up as Donatello walked out of Michelangelo's room. He came to join them, all sitting as if in meditation in the dojo.

"How is he?" Leonardo asked.

Donatello sat down in lotus position. "He's still unconcious." After about an of shaking like a leaf, and explaining what had happened, Michelangelo had just keeled over in unconciousness.

"Still?" Leonardo protested. "He's been like that for hours now."

Donatello shrugged. "Whatever it was that happened to him this morning sure took a lot out of him…"

Splinter, Leo, Raph, and Donnie sat in silence for a minute or two. Each knew what everyone else was thinking. If they'd had the slightest doubt about what was going to happen, it had been torn away by the events of this morning. It seemed as though their little brother wasn't going to be with them much longer. He'd be gone when the sun went down.

Suddenly Leonardo growled. The look on everyone's face was killing him. As though they'd already given up hope. And if he knew anything at all, he knew that he was not raised to be a quitter. He stood.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to just sit here and let that… that…_demon _from hell just get him!" He was breathing heavily.

Raphael just shook his head. "What do you think you're gonna do, Leo? You saw what happened this morning…" He rubbed his eyes, pretending to be tired, hiding the fact that they might have been a little moist.

What Raph had seen scared him. Scared him badly. When Mikey's look of confusion had halted him, when Mikey had shouted in a panicked voice, "I can't hear!"

Raphael had tried coming up to him, calling out "Mikey! Mikey, what's wrong?"

But Mikey couldn't hear him.

Shuddering at the memory, Raph covered his face. He didn't want to remember the rest.

Donatello looked at Raphael. "But did you hear something—a warning?" He put a hand on Raph's shoulder.

Raphael nodded once, but quipped, "Yes, but shell of a lot of good it did." He looked at Donatello, "You remember what happened? Mikey spaced out. He was looking in the corner, and his eyes went… vacant, sort of. Then, I couldn't even touch him!" He yelled, pounding a furious fist into his palm.

Splinter spoke for the first time since the incident. "What do you mean, my son?" He asked, puzzled.

Raphael turned to him, "Sensei, I couldn't… I couldn't touch him! One second, he was a solid as a rock, and the next… well, my hand went right through him! I couldn't even touch him! I couldn't…" He pounded a fist to the floor. He hated it. Hated how he had been so useless. There wouldn't have been anything he could have done! Nothing that would have helped. Nothing.

Donatello shook his head, "I seem to recall he even became sort of transparent too…" He furrowed his eyebrow ridges as he remembered. Michelangelo had become more and more transparent with each second he stood rooted to the spot like that… and what if the dawn hadn't come? What if he just kept getting more and more transparent? Would he have just disappeared? Would that have been the last they would ever have seen of him?

A tortured breath escaped from his lips.

The other three looked up at Donatello. He was the first one to break. A tear leaked visibly down his cheek, and Donatello brought up a tremulous hand. He wiped away the tear, but left his hand on his face, hiding it.

Leonardo scooted closer, and threw an arm around his brother's shaking form.

"Donnie, listen," he said, and then, looking at all of them said, "Listen all of you. We're _not_ going to let it happen!"

Raphael looked at his brother. He wanted to believe him, even though sometimes his 'fearless leader' attitude ground on his nerves; he truly wanted to believe him. And just now, he almost could. Almost.

Splinter merely closed his eyes. He'd been unnaturally quiet. It seemed like Sensei had more hidden behind his eyes than normal. No one could tell what exactly Splinter was feeling. Almost as if there were a wall put up right in front of his eyes. But what could he say? He was wise enough to know that life and death were like yin and yang. You cannot have one without the other. But for the past few hours, his mind had been involuntarily revisiting the death of his good friend and master Yoshi. Even now, the memory burned inside his heart, still painful.

To loose a son, his youngest son, his heart would be ripped apart.

But he hid all this from his sons. He had no desire to add to the turmoil his sons were feeling, unless he could offer some form of solace. But as it was, he felt unable to offer anything.

Donatello's breath became a gasping sob. Leonardo squeezed him with his arm around his shoulders. He felt the same inside. And if Donnie didn't _stop_ crying, then he was in danger of starting too. Working on keeping his breathing in check, trying to hold back the flood in danger of bursting out, he looked over at Raphael.

He whispered. "I'd take his place… I would rather see me go, and him stay." Donatello shuddered in his arms.

Raphael didn't say anything. He could have joked that he'd rather see Leo go too, but this certainly wasn't the time for laughter. He was way too angry. About the fact that his little brother was gonna just be taken from them. About the fact that there would be nothing that they could do about it. About the fact that despite the calm that Sensei's exterior showed, he could feel the inner storm that was bottled up inside his father. A storm that Splinter was not going to let show. He was angry that all he could do was _be_ angry. And he was going to get up, and freakin' kill their old punching bag.

He stood then, and moseyed over to the punching bag, striding with enough of a purpose that even Splinter opened his eyes to watch him. Balling up his fist, Raph put all the pent up energy he could into his first punch.

"HAI-YA!" He shouted, and leaned into the punch. The fist fell…

And the punching bag exploded into white dust.

Well, not really exploded. More like it had been partly open already, and had been laying in wait for the first person to strike it… and someone had put flour on the inside so that it would completely dust the person that hit it.

Raph stood there, frozen with an irked expression on his face. One that had confusion, and bewilderment mixed with shock and surprise, with a dash of anger thrown into the mix.

Donatello looked up, wiping off his streaming face. "N-now who…?" He stuttered, still trying to control his breathing.

Leonardo looked around. Was Michelangelo up? Or had he pulled that one before this morning had happened?

Raphael dusted himself off for a second or so, not really getting any flour off him whatsoever, and then stopped. "Mikey…" He said, not menacingly, but in a very calm manner. He strode over to the stairs.

* * *

I sniggered on the inside as I watched Raphael fall into the trap I had set. Somehow, I knew that he'd want to punch that thing until it had withered and died. Just call it brotherly intuition. And seriously, I just couldn't help myself. The white cloud of flour that exploded was even more satisfying than I had imagined it! Not to mention the fact that the new and improved Raphael look—you know, the Marshmallow Man turned Ninja—was just about the funniest thing that I had ever seen in my life.

As I saw Raphael stand there with a look of befuddlement on his face, I raced back to my bedroom, and dive-bombed beneath the covers.

"Three…two…one…" I counted.

Raphael stepped into my room.

I pretended to be sleeping.

"Mikey?" Raphael asked.

I didn't even twitch an eyelid.

Soon, I heard a sigh, and the sound of his footsteps as he walked out of my room.

I chuckled, and crept out of my bed once more.

See, I had woken up. Not just from having passed out—being drained of all my energy this morning by the Yasha—but I also woke up mentally too.

Denial obviously didn't work. It almost seemed to aggravate that creature. So if today was going to be my final day, the last day people were going to remember of me, I sure as shell was not going to go out like a whipped dog. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to forget about sunset until sunset came. And I wanted my brothers never to forget who was the _real_ prank champion. You know, the one who brightened any room with my dazzling smile! No one was going to be allowed to cry today.

Sneaking out of my bedroom, and watching Raphael make his very floury way down toward the dojo where Donnie sat with his face still in his hands, I whispered, "That means you need to stop crying, Donnie, and start laughing."

* * *

Raphael came down from Michelangelo's room, dusting off his hands, and trying to dust the rest of him off as well.

The other three looked up. "Well?" Leonardo asked, with his arm still comfortingly around Donatello.

Raphael shook his head. "Naw. He's still sleepin.'"

They all furrowed their eyebrows.

Donatello looked up. "Well, h-he did seem absurdly happy this morning. Maybe that's the reason…?"

Master Splinter cleared his throat. "Donatello, my son," he spoke, making them turn around. His eyes were closed in meditation, but he had a slight lilt of a smile on his lips. "Perhaps you should m—"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence, for just then three very big, very wet, and very cold water balloons came tumbling down upon Donatello, making the poor turtle gasp for breath as the cold water shocked his skin.

A snicker was heard, and then silence.

"—move." Master Splinter finished, "And pay more attention next time."

Donatello stood stiff, the cold water trickling down his back, and into his shell. He looked at Raphael. "I think you were a bit off in your assessment, Raph." He said, shaking water off his hands.

Leonardo, who had so wisely stepped aside from Donatello before the balloons had exploded, furrowed his eyebrow ridges. "What's he doing?"

Raphael pounded a fist into his palm. "I don't know what he's doing. But I do know what he's _gonna_ be doing." He back flipped up to the second level and scanned around for his little, reptilian, mischievous brother. It never ceased to amaze him how annoying his brother could be. He couldn't even be angry properly!

Growling in growing frustration, began to walk towards his annoying brother's bedroom. He couldn't see his brother, but he knew that Michelangelo was up there. Oh yes, he knew it.

* * *

It's all about reactions! And, I gotta say, Donatello's reaction was awesome! The surprised gasp, the stiffening of the arms… I just couldn't help but chuckle.

Unfortunately, Raph's reaction was—although predictable—something to definitely worry about. I booked it down the hallway when I heard my hot-headed brother announce "I know what he's _gonna_ be doing."

"Yeah," I mumbled to myself as I sprinted down the hall into Leonardo's bedroom. "I'm gonna be running away from you!"

Just then Raph flipped up to the second level, avoiding the stairs altogether. I peeked around the doorway, trying to control my breath—Raph has very good ears, and puffing away like a train definitely gives away my position.

"Oh Mikey-boy…" Raph called out. He began walking toward my room.

I quietly rolled my eyes. "Right bro, I'm gonna just come out and answer you."

Suddenly I spotted two more forms on the other side of the lair's second floor. Donatello, and Leonardo, of course. I smirked. Donatello was still dripping. He walked towards his room. I'm guessing to towel himself off. Leonardo headed to his room, my direction.

I pressed myself against the wall, thinking rapidly.

_How is it that I always manage to get myself into these kinds of predicaments?_ I lamented to myself. Looking around the corner, I found Leo almost on top of me.

I pressed back again, and took a deep breath.

* * *

Raphael scoured Michelangelo's bedroom, becoming more and more hot-headed by the second.

It just wasn't enough that Mikey wasn't going to be around for much longer; he just _had_ to go and make it miserable for everyone else until the last possible second, didn't he?

"I'm _not _going to miss this." He growled, checking behind Mikey's drumset.

Then he paused for a second. _Yes I am…_he admitted grudgingly to himself.

Tossing a comic book aside ruthlessly as he ripped the sheets off Michelangelo's bed to look underneath, he shouted, "Mike, where are ya, ya lousy little—"

A girly shriek of terror coming from Leonardo's quarters cut through Raphael's yelling fit, making him turn swiftly around.

He smirked, and said, "Aha. Found ya Mikey." He beat feet towards the sound of Mikey's terrified protests.

"Seriously, Leo, you don't know what Raph's capable of! Lemme go!" He was saying.

Leonardo's voice replied, "Sure I do. He'll probably give you a good beat-down."

Raphael turned the corner, and found Michelangelo pinned underneath Leonardo in an awkward position, with his arm around the back of his shell, and Leo's leg pinning his upper leg against the floor.

Raphael chuckled. "That'd be a good guess Leo." He pounded a fist into his palm.

"Ahem." A voice said directly behind Raphael. "I suggest a punishment a little more 'eye for an eye.'"

All eyes turned toward the door, where Donatello stood holding three water balloons, and what looked like the swept-up remnants of flour from earlier in a bucket.

"Aw shell…" Michelangelo said, eyes wide.

* * *

I thought as I struggled for Leonardo to let me up, _Donatello, you sly turtle…you just never expect the quiet ones._

Donatello gave Raphael a water balloon and the bucket of flour.

"Hang on guys," Leonard said, stopping them in their tracks.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you Leo! Thank you thank you thank—"

Leonardo interrupted. "Let's take him out of my room first. I don't want a mess in here."

I frowned. "What? Leo, what happened to your protective brotherly instincts?"

He pulled me up, and led me out of his room, with Raph and Donnie following behind us with grins on their faces.

"Let's just say, we won't have much more time to get you back for all those pranks you've pulled in your lifetime." He replied, with a bit of a grin on his own face.

Flabbergasted, all I could do was stand there and take what they were gonna dish out.

Three very, _very_ cold water balloons, and a bucket of flour later, I found myself having to hit the showers to get clean. I could have grumbled; in fact, I probably would have grumbled, if the circumstances had been different, but I just smiled. These were definitely my bros through and through.

Besides, I had more up my sleeves than they realized.

As I let the water pour over my green skin—being cold-blooded, warm showers definitely had to be one of my favorite things to do—I massaged the black mark on my arm. For some reason, it was sore, as if that creepy Yasha had pummeled me with a fist.

Rubbing my face I tried not to think about what tonight was going to be like. It made me shiver. Would I just go unconscious? Would it hurt badly? I just wanted to forget… but that was hard considering what happened to me this morning. Pretty much I was scared out of my shell.

I turned off the water, and got out, drying myself off. Maybe being alone wasn't a good thing for me right now… it just made it easier to think about tonight. Nodding to myself, I headed back into the main part of the lair, hoping to find someone to distract myself with.

Somehow, it seemed like someone read my thoughts. As I stepped out of the room, and into the main part of the lair, my ears picked up on a ruckus going on in the lair. Naturally, I wanted to be right in the middle of it, so I headed toward the noise. What I saw made my mouth drop open with utter bewilderment.

Raphael was fighting. I know what you're gonna say. So what? He does that all the time right? Well, he's fought with just about everyone I can ever imagine, including bugs. But I've never in my life seen him attempt to fight with thin air.

He was in full-fighting mode too. His sais were out and gleaming dangerously as he combatted the air full-throttle. It seemed that his target was not just the air in general, but a certain part of it that kept moving. Almost as if that part of the air had made him mad.

"Yeah, you wanna piece of this!" He was shouting, as he swiped deftly with his sais. "If you think you can just come in here and hang out after what you almost did to Mikey, you're—" A pause. "From _what,_ you no good, piece of—" Was Raph talking to himself too?

Jumping as if to avoid a collision from his unseeable enemy, he growled at it, "Oh, so _you've_ been what I'm hearing, huh? You useless—" He dove to the side again.

Leonardo and Donatello stood to one side, both of their mouths hanging as wide open as mine was. I sidled over to stand next to them, rubbing my head in confusion.

"Well, I know Splinter sometimes says that Raph tends to make enemies faster than friends, but _this _is ridiculous." Leonardo said.

Raphael didn't hear him. He chucked one of his sais at whoever… or _whatever_ it was that he was fighting. It sailed up to the upper level and landed with a _twing_, sticking into the side of the wall. Not put off by his apparent lack of success at spearing whatever it was he was fighting, he twirled the remaining sai in his hand. "You leave us alone, or you'll really have something to worry about!" He jumped up and sliced through the air with a vengeance.

I shook my head, and said sidelong to Leonardo, "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Raphie really knows how to blow off steam."

Leonardo looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

Donatello had a 'pondering' look on his face… one that usually comes when he's belaboring some sort of science experiment, or thinking really deeply about something. He rubbed his chin as well. That meant he was thinking _extra _hard about something.

"You know, we could just say that he's hallucinating, but I think that would be jumping the gun here a bit." He reflected out loud.

"Or… Raph is just blowing off steam… fighting an enemy that isn't really there…" I said, unconvincingly. Donnie was right. Raph didn't just start swinging at the air, and calling it names. Raph usually _likes_ air.

By now Raphael had lost his other sia. He must have kept forgetting that his sais wouldn't stick into the air, like they would into, say a wall, or something. He kept swinging at it though, and shouting at his supposed opponent.

Suddenly he came running up to the three of us, standing on the sidelines, and he said, "Lemme borrow this for a sec, bro." He grabbed hold of Donatello's bo, and took it back into his one-sided fray.

Donatello, with a look of shock on his face that Raph would dare touch his precious weapon, moved to grab it back. But Leonardo held out his hand. "Wait, I wanna see where this goes."

Donatello stood like a threatened lion, stiff and peevish, ready to spring at any moment.

By now, Raphael had attracted the attention of Master Splinter as well. He made no comment as he stood beside the others and me, watching as his son pummeled the air as best he could.

Raphael was just a little less practiced with the bo, but it had one quality that his sais did not, which was the ability to launch him into the air like a pole-vaulter. And seeing as how his appointed enemy had become the air, this was ideal.

Donatello growled with folded arms, "He'd _better_ not break it." He sure wouldn't be happy having to replace his bo for some one-sided battle that Raph thought he was fighting.

"Easy Don," Leo said, patting his shoulder with his arm. "He knows how to use it."

Raphael had launched himself into the air. But something was starting to happen that had not happened before. The blows that he was making started to have some register. In fact, I could almost hear the thunks of Raph's fists into whatever it was he fought. When Raphael began to whack at the air with Donnie's bo, I could definitely see the weapon meet with some resistance.

"Well, this is odd." I commented.

Leonardo stood back on his heels. "No kidding…" His own face began to take on the ponderous look of Donatello's… well; it _would,_ if it weren't for the fact that Donnie's face now resembled Raph's face when pissed off. "You know, this almost seems like he's facing another demon…"

I shook my head. "Except it's broad daylight outside, and he's not scared stiff."

Leonardo looked at me, "Maybe it's not a Yasha."

I was about to reply, when something very strange happened. Raphael flew across the room, as if the air had finally had enough of Raphael, and whacked him with a very nasty backhand. When Raphael landed, it was at the feet of the rest of us. He groaned, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. Then he looked up at the air again, and all of the sudden yelled.

Some unseen force flattened him, and his arms twisted painfully behind his back. I could actually see his skin become indented like it would if some hand were there holding onto his wrists.

He fought for a second or so, growling something under his breath that definitely should not be repeated.

Then he disappeared.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_I know that it's been a while. Please reveiw! Did I mangle Master Splinter? Or anyone else for that matter? _


	5. The Ultimate Practical Joke

_**Chapter 5 – The Ultimate Practical Joke **_

We couldn't believe it. If our mouths had been open before, they must have been gaping now.

Raph had just vanished…

Splinter stood stiff, and still, like he had been turned to stone. I turned to look at him through disbelieving eyes, hoping he could help make sense of what had happened. But I was disappointed. I watched as he went from stone to sand. He crumpled, falling to his knees. But he didn't make one sound. He let his walking stick drop to the ground with a hollow clack against the stone floor. But he didn't stay sand for long. Suddenly his drooping shoulders retained their stone like quality, and he put his hands on his knees, as he always did when he meditates.

I knew what that meant.

I knew that he took to meditation when we were in a jam. Donnie once told us about the time he had been taken into the Triceraton home world, and had this brain-frying thingy doohickey put on his head that was supposed to be able to read his thoughts, or something like that. He told us that when he felt like he was about to break in half, he called out for Splinter, trying to focus, and meditate, and somehow, he knew that Splinter was with him, through meditation. He managed to block the thing out of his mind. With Splinter's help. None of us doubted it. Even I know that through meditation, your mind is able to do things that most people would laugh at, and say was impossible. And what Master Splinter was trying to do was find Raphael.

His motion brought a stir from the rest of us.

Donatello moved to investigate the area that Raphael had disappeared into, as though he hoped that he'd be able to find him. His hands probed the floor. And on closer look, I noticed that his hands were trembling.

Leonardo just stood, much like Master Splinter had done, but he let out a hissing breath. "Raph…" he whispered, in a devastated voice, tremulous and tortured. "No…_No!_ **_Raphael!_**"

Without so much as a warning, he leaped up, and did his best to beat the living tar out of the floor with one strike of his fists.

I just stood there dumbfounded. Looking to Donatello, I asked in a shaky voice, "Donnie…?" I wanted him to tell me that it was going to be okay. I wanted him to tell me that he was coming back.

Donatello looked up, and his stunned face told me. It told me that everything was _not_ ok. That Raphael was gone. And nobody knew if he'd be back or not.

"I've had enough of this!" Leonardo shouted at the top of his lungs. He stood, with all the anger that an enraged brother could bring to bear, and sprung from where he stood, leaping to the second level. With that, he disappeared into his room.

Despite what you think, this is not melodramatics coming from Leo. He's just like that. Nothing ticks Leonardo off more than the thought of someone hurting his family. He's not the kind of turtle that would just stand by and let it happen, even if he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. And frankly, I wanted nothing more than for him to do something.

I was shaking. In another few hours, that was going to happen to me! And then it would be just Donatello, Leonardo, and Splinter. And I don't know _where_ I'd be. I'd be… would I even exist? What was going to happen to me?

What happened to Raph?

What was happening to my family!

I sank slowly to my knees, terrified, and shaking harder than I think I've ever shook before. Donatello noticed how badly I shook, and pulled me in, squeezing hard. My hands were numb almost, and I tried to keep from letting out a terrified cry.

Leonardo returned, his Katana in his hands, a look of fury on his face that frightened even me. He walked out into the middle of the dojo.

"All right, whatever you are!" he called out to the air, his voice shaking, and thunderous, "Coward! Let's see if you can take _me._ There will only be one of us left standing. And I swear it'll be me, or neither one of us!"

My eyes widened, and I gasped. "Leo! What are you _doing?_" Was he insane? I didn't want to lose him too!

Leonardo looked at me. "I'm getting Raph back!"

I stood, shaking Donnie off me, and ran to him in the center if the dojo. "You have no idea what this thing is like. It's not even touchable! It's scarier than… than… a _hundred_ Shredders combined into a big huge ugly—"

"Doesn't matter, Mikey!" Leonardo shouted. "I'm getting him back, and that's all there is to it."

I looked around, my whole body doing it's best to have a personal earthquake, hoping that nothing bad would happen. In my guts, I just knew that this was _such_ a bad idea.

But a part of me wanted to see Leo smoke the Yasha's ghostly butt. And I knew that if anybody could pull it off, it would be him.

Splinter suddenly called, "My son!"

All three of us turned to look at him. His eyes were squeezed tight in concentration, and he looked like he was holding his breath. Suddenly he relaxed and opened his eyes. Although he was looking straight at us, I could tell that he wasn't seeing us.

He stood, leaving his walking stick on the ground, and walking toward the center of the room. He almost walked right into Leo, but luckily Leo stepped out of the way in time.

Master Splinter reached out a hand, extending a finger as if moving to touch something in the air. His finger shook a little. Then it seemed as though he touched whatever it was—

Master Splinter vanished!

I muffled a shriek with my hands (why did they always come out girly!) and tried hard not to fall over in shock.

Donatello called out, "Master Splinter!"

Leonardo just stood still, stunned, angry…and as if looking for something. Something he'd missed. I looked at him, and saw that contemplative look on his face once again. The one that never failed to make me feel better—safer, more secure—because I knew that Leonardo was beginning to understand what was happening (even if I didn't) and that he was going to be able to do something. He was planning. I could see in his face that even through his anger, and the scary thought that we'd now just lost Master Splinter, he was going to do something about it.

Despite how much we all rag on him, I think everyone in my family—yes, even including Raph—appreciated this quality in him. Leonardo wasn't a sit-by-and-let-horrible-and-really-scary-stuff-happen type. He was an I'm-going-to-make-you-wish-you-hadn't-messed-with-my-family type. I wanted to hug him. But I would have gotten slapped.

Donatello moved, trying to go to the spot where Master Splinter had vanished. He, of course, wanted to study the spot where Master Splinter _had_ been standing, and figure out what had happened, hypothetically speaking: like any true scientist.

Leonardo held up a hand. "Wait Don. Don't move." He whispered.

Donatello froze. "Why?" He whispered back

Leonardo put a finger by his mouth, "Shhhhh." His eyes scanned the area, still looking for whatever it was. I couldn't put a finger on it, but I think he was also trying hard to get into the 'meditative zone' that one gets into. But he was trying to do it with his eyes open, while standing up, and looking for something too.

Leo was weird I guess.

I pulled my hands away from my own mouth, and asked, whispering, "Why are we whispering?"

I looked at Leo, and all of the sudden, something weird began to happen. His face changed from a hard, fierce gaze that was sure to burn a hole right into the stone floor where he looked, to a softer, more amazed look. He re-sheathed his Katana.

"Uh… Leo?" I asked, waving my hand in front of his face. His eyes didn't register my movement. He'd accomplished what Master Splinter had accomplished, being able to see whatever it was that they had seen. It almost made me want to join them… but then I always found it really hard to get into the 'zone,' even when I wasn't so freaked out that I almost wanted to soil my shell.

Leonardo shook his head, as if trying to see again. He blinked, and he looked at Donnie and me, finally being able to see us once more.

"Guys, give me your hands."

Donnie and I both looked at each other. I saw mirrored in his eyes my own confusion.

"Um, okay…" I said, and gave him my left hand. Donnie held up his right one.

Leonardo grabbed our wrists. Then he had that look of extreme concentration once again on his face. And we stood like that, in a line, with Leo gripping our wrists, for a few minutes, not talking, or moving.

_If I hadn't seen stranger things in the last day or so, I would have to say this is extremely odd…_ I thought.

Leonardo's face made that change once again. Except now it had become more determination than the amazement it had been the first time. And he began to step forward one step at a time, much like Splinter had done, and began moving toward the spot that Splinter had disappeared from.

Then he hoisted our arms up by our wrists. We got closer… and I had the sudden urge to recoil my hand, and take my arm back from Leonardo. Whatever it was that was about to happen, I almost didn't want to know. What if it was the Yasha? That creepy thing with too big of eyes… glittering and black. What if it was doing to Raph what it had been doing to me? What if Master Splinter was next? What if…

I felt my hand touch something solid.

Then I felt weird. All tingly, as if my whole body had fallen asleep, and it was in the process of waking up. My vision suddenly became distorted, and all bright.

White like the Yasha.

I squinted, trying to see through the whiteness of it. I couldn't feel Leonardo's hand on my wrist anymore. I couldn't see anybody, or anything. I closed my eyes, wanting them to clear.

Geeze, I hated being alone. And freakin' scared.

Opening my eyes, I saw that whiteness again. But I also began to see through the whiteness.

Four shapes. One of them was a little shorter, and less bulky. The other three stood defiantly. Together.

My bros! And Splinter. I was sure of it. I didn't have to walk toward them. They were already there. Leonardo on my left side, and Donnie on Leonardo's left side. Then Raph and Splinter, standing in front of us.

As their figures began to become more detailed, my pounding heart started to calm down, and return to the cavity in which it was supposed to be.

Until I remembered that Raph had been fighting something unseen… then I tried looking around for it. And my heart started to motor up again.

Raph looked very confused, ticked off, and maybe a little frightened, although if the circumstances had been different, I knew that Raph would have tried as hard as possible to look as though he knew exactly what was going on, and not afraid at all.

Splinter stood, as if he had his walking stick in front of him, and his hands on top of it. Very calm, and maybe even relaxed. I found myself looking at him, and wishing that I could relax like that. Then I rolled my eyes.

Right. I wanna pretend like nothing bad was about to happen.

Donnie looked fascinated. I could tell even from where I was standing. He probably had something going through his head like, '_I wonder if this is some alternate reality, or maybe even a sub-space universe, or…' _

Ugh, my head spun even trying to _guess_ what he was thinking.

Leonardo still looked angry. And he looked now like he was going to fight the first thing that moved. Ready for anything.

I stayed as still as possible, so as not to startle him, and have him pounce on _me_.

Then I heard something. I very nearly screamed again, because it _had _to be the Yasha. I'd recognize the fluty, whispery, light sound anywhere.

"_Welcome… friends…" _it spoke, a voice flowing sugary, like honey.

I inhaled swiftly, and clenched my shaking hands.

"Friends?" Raphael asked, with a growl.

In front of all of us, the whiteness began to swirl, move, and take shape. Slowly, a small figure materialized in front of us, like some hologram from all those Star Trek episodes I've seen. It looked hazy, but it was so small. Smaller than me and my bros. Smaller than Splinter, even.

As it appeared, it seemed to me to look like a little kid. It wore white clothing, a dress with a small black ribbon tied around the waist. It was a girl, with short brown hair, and bright blue eyes. Her face shone pale, and white, and looked to be a really young child, say nine years old at the most.

It was a girl?

I looked sidelong at Donatello, but he seemed to accept this notion. I rubbed my head, looking to Raph.

"You got whooped by a little girl?" I asked, folding my arms.

Raph looked over at me with a squinting lethal gaze, and confused expression. "_That's_ not what I was fighting… it wasn't a little girl. It was this ugly monster thing…"

The girl watched our little conversation with an amused expression. She spoke, once again in a whisper that couldn't possibly come from any child on earth. _"Nay, I am in fact the one Raphael quarreled with."_

Raph protested, "But you… I mean, you weren't…"

Splinter interjected, "Raphael, my son, silence. This entity is not of our world. Do not question just yet; it has a message for us."

The little girl bowed respectfully in Splinter's direction. _"Astutely said, old one."_

Astutely? That big word seemed really odd coming from such a little girl.

Leonardo looked about as relaxed as a dog with its fur standing on end. "I don't like it," he said with clenched fists.

"Easy, Leo." Donatello said. "I don't think she means us harm." He looked at the girl, to see if he was right.

The girl looked amused once more, and nodded. _"I wish to explain more fully who I am, and to help you."_

"With what?" Both Raph and Leo asked edgily.

"_To save Michelangelo from his wraith."_ The girl replied, slowly, reassuringly.

I looked at her sharply, with 'new light' so to speak. I didn't know who or even what she was, but this… um… person (?) had to be able to do something. Right? But…

"How?" I asked.

The little girl smiled, and motioned for all of us to sit. _"To explain that, Michelangelo, I must explain more about what I am."_

I took the lotus position, and so did my brothers. Splinter knelt, and put his hands on his knees.

She waited for us to finish sitting, then began. Her voice almost lulled me to sleep, as whispery, and honey-coated as it was, but I couldn't sleep, mainly because here was a being that might actually be able to help.

"_I am Baku; a race of being that strives for balance in the multiverse. Perhaps you have heard of us as a spirit that—"_

"Devours dreams," Splinter finished for her. Calmly, he went on, "I've heard tell that Baku fight with that which we fear. Dreams—or more accurately, nightmares—being one of them. Although, they usually are said to appear in the form of a chimera, or some other hybrid of several animals. "

The Baku nodded, _"That is correct. But we can take on other shapes as well. We are a benevolent race, and take much pity on the humans. Most of their fears come from inside them, such as their nightmares. But there is a force that seems to be the author of those fears that are external: the beings that you know as the Futari Yasha. The Man Eaters, so to speak. We have become the only ones able to keep them from destroying other races. They are especially fond of humans, but when necessary, they do prey upon anything they can."_

"_Destroying_ other races?" Donatello questioned, with this eager look on his face. I wondered if he actually enjoyed this experience? Personally, I was scared, uncomfortable, and shivering still. But he seemed to actually be having a great time—or at least, an experience he would call 'fascinating.' I guess that's what happens when you're the one with a scientific mind.

"_Yes. Not many people from your world that have successfully been consumed by these Yasha. If we, the Baku, did not keep watch, and check them, they would most certainly suck Earth dry of all inhabitants. They are numerous."_

My eyes widened at that particularly nasty thought.

The Baku continued. _"However, we can only do so much. Futari Yasha are an extremely powerful race, and have a magic all their own. As we have cut off their supply of 'blood' so to speak, they have set in place something that we, as of yet, have been unable to impede. The Mark."_ She looked at me, and then at my arm with a significant look.

I looked down too. There it was, still visible, still black, still there. I rubbed it again. It wasn't as sore, but it did twinge a bit.

"Why did it choose me?" I wondered aloud.

The Baku replied, _"The Futari Yasha have a greater power over those of a rather… carefree nature. Indeed, the Mark enables them to interact with this plane, and keeps us from being able to interfere. Once their Mark is upon the victim—and even though this alerts the Baku—it is too late by then for us to help. We have no power over this Mark. And fear is what enables these Futari Yasha to interact with your plane in the level that they need. That is the reason that carefree souls usually are the ones they pick, and the ones generally missed the most by their family and friends. These carefree souls are more easily frightened."_

I frowned at that statement. _No I'm not… am I?_

Leonardo looked unimpressed. "You know, isn't it a bit… convenient that you 'Baku' are the ones that fight the Futari Yasha?" He still didn't trust this being, and sounded like he was accusing her of having ulterior motives.

The Baku looked at him seriously, (which looked funny coming from a girl around nine years old.) _"Not at all, Leonardo. Have you not heard of Yin and Yang? We Baku live by this rule of balance. We firmly believe that where there is evil, there is always a good that has the ability to balance that evil. The Futari Yasha are evil, and we Baku are, as far as we know, the only ones that have the ability to counter-balance this evil."_

Leonardo remained firm in his suspicion. "Then if you are able to balance them, then why do they seem to have the upper-hand?"

The Baku took on a troubled look for a moment, contemplating what Leonardo said. She looked at him once again, _"I have asked myself this many times Leonardo. Perhaps the only answer to this question lies in the newness of this Mark. They developed it a few thousand of your years ago, and—"_

"That's _recent_, did you say?" I asked with incredulity.

Donatello piped up, "Mikey, remember that this Baku isn't a human, or even a part of this plane of existence. Their lifespan could be vastly longer, or they might genetically pass down their memory information, or—"

"Ok, ok! I get it! Just quit making my head spin, all right Don?" I said, holding my head with my hands.

Donatello just smiled and shook his head. He never could get all the way through an explanation like that without me interrupting. I can't help it. Being confused isn't fun.

The Baku looked at Donatello, _"We are spirits. Your human ideas of life and death do not apply to us."_

Donnie nodded, excited about the information he was gleaning from this whole experience.

Continuing, the Baku said, _"And as of yet, we Baku have not as yet been able to devise a way to counter-balance this Mark. Something the Futari Yasha take advantage of."_

"Great," I muttered, sinking into a murky mood. "The one person that might have been able to save me just admitted that she _couldn't_ save me… how lame is that!"

The Baku shook her little head. _"Michelangelo, patience. We may not be able to completely stop them, but we can interfere somewhat. It is a small chance." _

All five of us perked up at this comment, grasping at the thin straw of hope.

Splinter spoke, "I believe that we would be willing to take what little chance we have, in order to save the live of my son."

I nodded my head vigorously. I'd be willing to do just about anything.

My brothers nodded too.

"_Very well," _the Baku said, with a lilt in her whispery voice. _"I have been watching your family closely. What I am about to propose is something I believe you would call a 'practical joke.'"_


	6. How to Smoke a Ghost

_**Author's Note: **The uploader thingy is being extremely weird, so I'm going to put in bold the first sentence every time there is a change in point of veiw. Hope this isn't to bothersome for anybody. But this stupid thing isn't working right._

_**Chapter Six – How to Smoke a Ghost**_

We all looked at each other, frowning. Even Splinter looked doubtful.

"A what?" I asked. This Baku couldn't be serious, could she? A random thought scurried through my head of us unsuccessfully trying to short sheet the demon.

The Baku sighed. _"It is something that we Baku have been dwelling our thoughts upon for some time now. If all goes as planned, and with the correct person, it should work."_

"Um, well… what exactly do we have to do?" I asked.

"_I must explain something vitally important to you first." _The Baku said, her child figure making her look seriously ridiculous, with those huge words coming out of her little mouth._ "Only when we—you and I—are in this nexus, this plane that shares the same commonalities for both of our worlds, can we interact with each other completely. The plane of existence that the Yasha lives in is the same as the plane in which the Baku exist. Once you know this, then you must also understand that inside each earth-dweller are certain tendencies that enable them to interact with different planes. Only Raphael and Michelangelo appear to have the tendencies required to interact with the plane the Baku and Yasha exist. That is the only reason why I had been able to—with some difficulty—to bring Raphael from your plane of existence to this one. It took time for me to bring my own tendencies towards this plane to be able to interact with him. Just as the Yasha requires fear to interact with anyone on this plane, so also do we Baku. However, we are not limited like the Yasha to fear alone. We can interact with any sort of strong emotion, be it fear, anger, sadness, or even extreme happiness. I had to 'provoke' Raphael in order to increase the strength of his emotion in order to be able to interact. Once that happened, it was a little matter to bring him here."_

"So, how is it," asked Leonardo, "if we don't have tendencies toward this 'nexus' as you called it, that Raph, Don, Splinter and I are able to even be here?"

"_Once you all came into contact with Raphael, he became the link which enabled us, if temporarily, to co-exist. You all share a bond that is a strong emotion indeed, one I believe you define as…love. It allows me to be able to interact with you on this level, and as you had come into contact with Raphael while he existed in this plane, he became the link that enabled you to join him. But only through him would you be here, otherwise only with him, or Michelangelo would I have been able to interact. Therefore, as Michelangelo is the one in danger, Raphael is the only one who will be able to help."_

Silence.

Really, I think only Donnie, with the possible exception of Master Splinter, understood what the Baku had said at all.

I could see the wheels in Donnie's head start to spin, working out this puzzle of words. I felt my head buzz almost worse than when Donnie spouts off with some scientific nonsense. I'm glad that Donnie at least understood it.

"So, you're saying that because of these 'internal tendencies' that Raphael and Michelangelo have, the Yasha chose Michelangelo." He began to think out loud, to nobody in particular. "But we couldn't ever hear anything because the Yasha had placed its Mark on him, and not us. And Raphael heard you, but only during times of extreme emotion… like when we were battling in the Junction. But Michelangelo couldn't hear it because… um… the Mark! It blocked you out somehow."

"_Correct. As I have said before, the Mark keeps us from being able to interfere. That includes us being able to warn, or to drive fear from their hearts." _The Baku smirked. _"After all, we are the 'nightmare eaters.' Once I realized that Raphael had been able to hear me, I decided to move into action"_

She turned to me, her face again serious. _"Knowing that we are unable to interfere, my people have devised a way to interfere in more-or-less a round-about way. This can only be done with those who have the tendencies required. Therefore, my proposition concerns Michelangelo and Raphael. We must trick this Yasha to go after Raphael, by making him share the essence of Michelangelo. If this Yasha tries to consume him without a Mark on his arm, then he will essentially become stuck between two planes, something very fatal to a spirit such as the Futari Yasha."_

Raphael snorted. "Yeah, and how're you gonna do that?"

The Baku's shape began to shift, taking on that hologram-like appearance once again. It twisted and contorted into grotesque and nasty shapes, as it worked out an appearance for itself. Its limbs stretched, its body broadened, and its hair shrank out of sight. Green skin formed, and a shell began to mutate along its back, and a plastron along its front. With that, its form began to set, becoming sharper. Knee and arm pads appeared, along with two wrist-bands and an orange mask around the eyes. The hologram-like appearance faded, and the form began to look more solid once again. I stared with amazement at what was before my face.

I was looking directly at myself!

_I always thought I was the pretty one._ I smiled, but then reality hit again.

"Geeze! How did you do that?" I asked, standing to my feet, and taking a stroll around what looked like myself.

The Baku replied, _"We Baku can appear as anything. We have become the masters of acquiring the 'essence' of whatever we wish. It is this ability that helps us in our struggle against the Yasha, and fear. I had appeared to you as a child of your world to aid me in talking to you so that you would be willing to listen. I appear to you now as Michelangelo, to convince you of my power."_

Raphael squinted, and looked trouble. I actually thought I knew what he was thinking. That 'morphing' process looked very, very painful. I sort of felt sorry for him. Boy, was I glad that I wouldn't have to go through that!

Donatello had been rubbing his chin again. He has a bad habit of that. "What's to keep this Yasha from knowing that this isn't really Michelangelo? And if you can change like that, then why can't _you_ just pose as Mikey, instead of Raph?"

The Baku chuckled, _"Unfortunately, the Yasha can sense the presence of a Baku. Furthermore, I will be helping Raphael not only take on the mere appearance of Michelangelo, but also the essence if his personality."_

Raphael began to look a little more than just worried. I hoped he wasn't considering whether or not it was worth the trouble to save me.

"_However, the Yasha will be able to feel that carefree nature inside Raphael," _The Baku continued, _"Therefore, I will also have to help Michelangelo take on the essence of Raphael, just so that it doesn't sense a trap. It wouldn't do to have two Michelangelos together."_

"What!" Raphael and I both protested at the same time. I was beginning to like this plan less and less.

"So your saying that I'll be trading places with Raphael? As in, be all grumpy, and hot-headed, and surly, and everything?" Talk about a horrible prospect!

I ducked as Raphael moved to whack me one over the head. "Argh! Can it, Mike! This ain't no can of peaches for me neither!"

"Hate to break it to you bro—" I tried, but Splinter interrupted it.

"My sons, as this will not be permanent, I trust that you both will be able to tolerate this until the danger on Michelangelo's life has passed."

We stood in utter revulsion, looking at each other.

It seemed as though I was going to get to know Raph on a level way, way, _way_ too personal for my taste.

And from the looks of it, Raphael shared my sentiment exactly.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

**"So we just stand here?" I asked, uncertainly**.

Donnie, Splinter, and Leonardo had been sent back to our 'plane' as the Baku called it. Leonardo still seemed extremely uneasy. As if he expected that this Baku would be some monster in disguise. He worries too much.

"_Yes,"_ the Baku replied, having reverted back to the shape that it had once been, the little girl. _"And you must keep in contact with one another, for me to be able to assist you in sharing essences."_

Raphael and I looked at each other, and then simultaneously put our arms over each other's shoulders.

"_Good."_ The Baku nodded, and then said, _"Now hold out your hands to me."_

As instructed, Raph and I presented our hands to her.

The Baku took hold of our hands, and closed her eyes.

_Here we go…_I cringed, hoping for a smooth ride.

My hand tingled, as the process began. The Baku's arms once again took on that hologram-like appearance. Some sort of light shone where our hands met, and the hand that held my own glowed some weird neon yellow color, and the hand that held Raph's hand glowed a nauseating acid green color. The tingling in my hand spread to my arm now.

As much as I wanted to shut my eyes, it was too cool not to watch as the neon yellow color, and the acid-green color slowly rose away from our conjoined hands, like water that suddenly decided to fall _up_ instead of fall_ down_. The two slow-moving cascades of water-like light rose a few feet upwards, and slowly began to mingle.

I felt really funny… the tingly sensation disappeared, to be replaced with a feeling that felt sorta like a thousand fingers beginning to slowly massage every inch of my skin. I could even feel it through my shell and plastron. Looking over at Raph, I could tell from the gritting teeth that he felt the same thing I was feeling.

So far, we still looked like ourselves.

The two colorstreams of light mixed and mixed. That odd feeling of invisible hands kneading me made me feel as though I were getting mixed and mixed right along with them. Soon, the two colors became one color… and slowly congealed into one massive ball of a light-green color. It pulsated a couple of times, glowing faintly and then brightly, and then faintly and brightly. I felt the pulsations right through my body, as though some gentle electric pulse had shocked me, and that awful tingly sensation returned in my arm, and spread again to my whole body. It felt the worst where Raphael and I touched. I could feel him tense up, and grind his teeth with dislike.

That ball of watery light then divided, splitting like a drop of water would on a table, with bouncy motions. It hovered over our two heads, lingering for a second, before it slowly dropped, and soaked us in a yellow-green glow.

It hurt! My skin felt like someone had thrown acid on it, burning and stinging. I shut my eyes tight, feeling my body begin to disfigure itself. I groaned in pain, and I heard Raphael groaning too. Clenching my teeth, I endured the pain as my body seemed to refigure itself again, the burning-feeling on my skin disappearing, and my muscles relaxing once more.

Opening my eyes, I saw the Baku still with her eyes closed. Our hands had stopped glowing, and letting out a breath, she released us.

I nearly fell as I lost the support, but I regained my balance.

The first thing I noticed was that I had darker green skin, the Mark on my arm having vanished, and the second thing that I noticed was that I was now looking at myself!

Raph stood, but he wore my orange mask, and my nun-chucks sat there, tucked away inside his belt. _My_ belt. He examined himself, even checking out his arm… sure enough, the Mark was there.

He looked surprised. "Hey, I thought you said that I wouldn't have this thing!"

The Baku looked drained, and her form started to fade. "It is a mere outward replication of the real Mark. Michelangelo still bears the authentic Mark, although it is hidden."

Phooey. For a second there, I almost thought that I had actually gotten rid of it.

"Remember," the Baku continued, "You now share one another's personalities. Do not fight them, or this will in effect neutralize the whole point of the switch." She faded some more. "I have to send you back now."

I looked Raph up and down.

"Lookin' good there, bro." Raph's voice came out of my lips! Man, that was weeeeirrd!

Raphael glanced at me, and shook his head, the orange tails of the bandana fluttering behind him, "Man, this is creepy."

Did I really sound like that?

This new body I was in felt different. Like the painfully-tight shoulder and arm muscles. Probably from all that weight-lifting he does. I stretched them out a bit, trying to get comfortable in this new skin.

Raphael seemed to be uncomfortable as well. He flexed my arms… _his_ arms, and stretched them out. "Yeesh. I _sure_ hope I ain't got to put up with this for very long."

I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing that he was trying to goad me. Then I smirked, walking up to him as if I were going to say something, but then I just smacked him upside the head.

"Oh yes! Nothing like a little payback!"

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

**"This isn't right!"**

For the umpteenth time, Leonardo let his swords clang together. He hadn't put them away ever since they had been sent back to the lair. He'd been pacing, and practicing a few moves, feeling the need to do something. But all he could do was wait for Michelangelo and Raphael to appear. He didn't like it. He growled, and sliced again with venom.

Donatello stood to one side, leaning on his bo, watching his brother with concern.

"What's not right?"

Leonardo brought his swords to bear in front of him, tensing his muscles. "Don't you get it? That thing sent us back _without_ them. Michelangelo could very well be in even more danger; Raphael could now be in just as much trouble. Something doesn't feel right. I don't trust this Baku. Why did it send us back here before they were changed?"

"Leo, the Baku explained that already. It told us that it took too much of its power to keep us there, and it that it needed that power in order to do the switch. It said that it needed to touch them, and it could only do it on that plane. So, obviously, it had to send us home and keep them there"

Leonardo pointed his sword at Donatello threateningly. "Don't you stand here and tell me that everything is all right! Don't tell me that we can relax!"

Something was _wrong._ Something was really wrong. The fact that his brothers weren't safe and sound standing right there in front of him in the lair, and that Leonardo couldn't do anything to protect them from any danger they might be in rattled his nerves. If they died, it would have been _him_ that had allowed it to happen. He would have just naïvely gone back to the lair quietly without putting up any sort of fight and leaving his two brothers in the hands of a spirit with dubious intentions at best. He wouldn't be able to bear the weight of _two_ dead brothers on his shoulders!

Donatello looked at the sword glittering at him with a resigned expression. Obviously, he had to wait this out. Leo wouldn't be calm until he knew that his brothers were safe.

"Ok, Leo. Ok."

Splinter had watched this exchange with contemplation. Splinter had a profound instinctual knowledge for when his sons were in danger. Over the years, Leonardo had gained it too. Admittedly, Splinter felt that Leonardo might have been reacting more to his obvious prejudice against the spirit, than to any real threat. However, he knew that it would be unwise to allow this outburst from him to go overlooked. He himself felt no such threat; except he knew that his heart had ached with so much pain at the thought of loosing Michelangelo, and now it was filled close to bursting with the hope that he would live. Was this hope blinding him to any ill intentions?

Realizing this line of thought was futile, he concluded that what would happen would happen. He needed to be alert, so that he would be prepared to handle whatever may come his way, to be prepared to fight for the life of his son, if need be. He had no disillusions that with the coming nightfall there would also come an easy surrender of the enemy. He stood.

"Leonardo."

Leonardo turned to Splinter with a fierce look on his face. Then he realized who he glared so fiercely at.

"My son, you must calm yourself."

"Master Splinter… Sensei..." Leonardo relaxed his face, his anger dissipating and allowing what he had truly been feeling—fear—to show through. "What if…"

Splinter interrupted, "My son, in order to be prepared whatever may happen, you must be calm within. Focus brings with it power, power that can be used against that which could harm or destroy you. One must have focus at all times, despite the inner turmoil. Just as a fire can destroy a forest from the inside out, so can fear, and anger."

Leonardo didn't answer. Of course, he knew that Master Splinter spoke words of wisdom.

But he had a rock sinking inside the pit of his stomach, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't ignore it.

A weird cracking sound interrupted his thoughts, and suddenly he saw his two brothers standing before him, the orange-clad one trying to grab at the red-masked one's throat.

Donatello laughed. "They sure got switched all right!" He straightened and whipped his bo behind him, sticking it in his belt. With that, he moved forward to help Leo pull the pair of brothers away from each other.

Leo couldn't help but admit that he felt surprised that the Baku had fulfilled its end of the bargain. But that didn't change the fact that he felt very uneasy. Maybe the plan wouldn't work? He hoped that it would with every faculty he possessed, but he had this nagging doubt. A raging hope, and a nagging doubt.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

**Getting sent back to our lair with Raph holding me in a headlock wasn't the most fun thing I've ever experienced.** In fact, it really wasn't very fun at all. Gasping after Leo and Donnie helped me get Raph off me, I found I could really understand this guy's anger issues. I wanted to get _him _in a headlock. Weird how I now felt his anger, but he didn't share my patience to be picked on. Maybe it's a learned thing, you know… from being the youngest brother and all.

Donatello looked at me with a gleam in his eye. "So, Raph—I mean… Mikey, what was it like!"

"What was what like?"

"Getting switched like that? I mean, what did the Baku do? Was it fast? Or did it happen slowly? Did—"

Leonardo butted in. "_Donnie. _Can we discuss this later? It's five… the sun's setting."

My heart leaped in my throat at that announcement.

"Yikes! Uh, eh, I mean… um…" I didn't want to be afraid. I knew now that the Yasha would do everything in its power to make me feel fear, and I knew that there weren't no way I was gonna let it.

Suddenly, a loud grumbling noise emanated from my orange-clad brother's stomach

"Man, I'm hungry… where's food when you need it?"

Donnie, Leo, and I exchanged looks.

He looked around at us. "What?"

I answered. "Now you're really starting to sound like me. The sun is goin' down, and all you can do is think of your _stomach?_"

He rolled his eyes, "You have no room to talk. I can't even count on my hands and feet the number of times you—"

"Guys!" Leonardo interrupted. "Enough. Donnie, how dark is it outside? Is there a way to see?"

Donnie hopped to it. "No problem. There is a weather site that I know of that has a webcam view of the entire city." Walking over to his arsenal of computers, he began typing into the keyboard. "It updates every five seconds, so we will essentially be seeing what it really looks like outside."

In a few seconds—with me hoping that we had some time left before the real 'fun' was supposed to begin—he had the site online, and clicked the icon for the webcam. We all gathered around, including Splinter.

The picture appeared.

Lights coming from windows of the dark city twinkled across the camera's view. Good grief, it was already dark! So soon? It was only five for cryin' out loud!

"No way!" Raph said, with a slight tremble in his voice.

I reeled back, inhaling a breath that was meant to keep my innards where they were supposed to be. Master Splinter and my brothers looked at me. Trying not to panic, I looked around the lair. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, the Yasha would always come when I least expected it.


	7. When You Least Expect It

_**Chapter 7 – When You Least Expect It**_

Waiting is my least favorite activity. Right next to sitting still, and meditating.

We were doing all three.

For some reason, Sensei had concluded that we four turtles needed to 'focus' our energies, and 'prepare.' I guess I agreed with him, but I think that sitting still, and listening to the silence of the lair could possibly have been one of the worst ideas that Master Splinter has ever come up with. Including that time when he tried to kill us all with lima beans.

For one thing, I kept jumping at every random noise. You know those movies you see, those scary ones where everything goes all quiet, and then all of the sudden _BANG_! A really loud noise will just about make you go into a coma and wet yourself simultaneously, and you have to work hard to quit panting in panic. Well, when you sit really still, and everything is quiet, you start hearing weird noises.

_Clang._

Oh, that's just a rock going down the sewer line.

_Buzz._

Man, those darn flies are back again. Go sic 'em, Raphie!

_Fwoosh._

Extra water in the river this time of year.

What really got to me was the thought that any moment, the Yasha would suddenly say what I have officially decided are the four creepiest words in the world: _Michelangelo, I want you._

For some reason, when everything is quiet, small sounds seem amplified. Meaning, I'm probably gonna scream when the Yasha shows up. It seems pointless to say that I felt super-extremely tense.

_Or maybe I'm just tense because now I'm in Raph's body._

_Yeah, that's it!_

The other thing I hated about 'preparing' for something via meditation was being stuck in my own head. Obviously, one cannot talk to others, and therefore one must think.

_I think if I have to think any longer I'm gonna think myself to insanity and beyond!_

Why couldn't Master Splinter just listen to reason, and let us do a little skateboard dueling action?

Oh yeah.

'_My son, meditation brings focus, something of which you are indeed lacking.'_

Bah humbug.

My brothers and I sat in lotus position, forefingers touching the tips of our thumbs, arms resting on our crossed knees. We sat on the carpet surrounded by the tall candelabras that Splinter likes so much. He'd lit the candles in them too. Splinter sat at the head of the rug, with the four of us sitting in a line in front of him. We'd been sitting like this for about a half an hour. Right after we'd discovered that it was completely dark outside.

_Geeze, what is this Yasha waiting for? An open invitation?_

Ok, so I was mentally complaining to myself because I think I would start shivering in anticipated terror if I didn't distract myself. But really, I had imagined that the Yasha would come and try to get Raph the second it got dark. I mean, look what happened _last_ time it had dilly-dallied all night. The sun came up, forcing it to wait another day, giving us the advantage.

Not that I didn't appreciate the head start, but in this dangerous game, I didn't like acting as the bait.

_Not that I'm really the bait at all. Raph is._

Guess I didn't have it nearly as bad as Raph did. Squinting a peek at Raph, I saw my brother's eyebrow ridges bunched up in concentration. I sure hoped he'd stop that, so that my face wouldn't stick that way when this was all over. To be honest, I think he had it the hardest out of all of us. After all, it would be him that the Yasha would go after.

And what if it didn't work…?

_I need to get out of my head! It's not a happy place right now!_

Under normal circumstances, I would definitely say "Yeah, meditating. Sure. Makes sense. 'Clears the mind and sharpens the senses' and what have you."

These, obviously, were not normal by any sense of the word. So why, why, why…

I could imagine Raph reaching over and thwacking me upside the head, saying, "Yo, bonehead. Even _I_ know how to clear my mind."

And he would be right. I wasn't meditating properly (given the circumstances, how could anyone blame me?) but I needed to clear my head of _all_ thought. Even the nightmarish I'm-gonna-be-eaten-alive thoughts.

Taking another quick peek at Raph, I could tell he'd settled into full meditative mode. His muscles looked relaxed, and his face calmer than it had looked a few seconds ago.

I would never admit it, but sometimes I really look up to Raph. When even a hothead like him can get it under control, I figure that I can too.

_Ok, _I thought to myself, _here goes…_

First I settled into my breathing, lengthening and deepening the intakes, letting them out slowly. I could feel my over-tight Raph muscles begin to relax. Then I worked on clearing my head of all thought. First I pictured in my mind's eye a mist of fog, slowly swirling and moving.

Another picture popped up in my head. It was the Yasha's oversized, bug-like eyes…

_C'mon Mikey. Just like Master Splinter says. Calm, and focused._

I changed the picture in my head to water. Black surfaced, washing over a brook. Liquid silver, constantly in motion, moving and churning over rocks in its path. I could hear the sound, the subtle laughter-like bubbling of the water as it moved along its way.

Slowly, I let the image disappear, and listened to my breathing.

I began to feel as though I'd detached my mind from my body, the sensations from my body slowly dropping off, as though I had gone numb.

It always amazes me—once I get into this state—how quickly time passes. I would always think that I'd been in the state no longer than maybe few minutes, when I find that we'd been meditating for over an hour. Even in that amount of time, I always feel like a pile of wet noodles when I come out, all relaxed, and pudding-like. I usually have to go do something energetic afterwards, to nullify that weird effect. Some people—like Raph, for instance—need that muscle-turned-jell-o result, for obvious reasons. But me… well, I could definitely live without it. One thing I will say for meditation though. It sure makes me more able to focus afterwards. Meditating can be almost like being in a dream-like state if you get deep enough into it.

I settled farther into meditation, silencing all conscious thought, as Splinter taught us to do over the years. I could feel my body's heart rate and breathing begin to slow a bit. I loosed my mind, letting it take me where it would…

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

_It lingered. Watchful. Hungry._

_With a hiss, it moved with visceral intent softly through the air, the plane of existence it so smoothly traveled on crackled with electricity as the ghostly entity filled it with energy. It tingled. Wanted. Its bloodlust demanded to be satisfied. It was tantalizingly close to its kill._

_The demon could sense its prey. It saw only darkness, but could feel the presence of its victim. Through the sea of blackness, a pulse directed it, pulling at it…_

_No. Two pulses. _

_But one, one that would gratify its cravings, its gnawing desire for blood once again. One that pulled at the demon harder than its counterpart did. It almost teased the demon with its rhythm, calling at it, begging the demon to cut it short. The demon also sensed a difference between the two pulses, a different passion. One that felt… harder, more hurtful, tougher, strong and heavy. The other, the one that pulled harder, seemed lighter, airy, more… tasty. _

_Two days. Probably it's finest score. Two days to discover the quarry, to hunt, and terrorize. Growing closer and more attuned to it. Two days, and the Yasha had discovered that this quarry was different. Not a man, not quite a turtle. Somewhere in-between both. As always, when the Yasha had terrorized it into a state that he could directly interact with it, the Yasha became able to see it, not just hear it. Although the Yasha had been slightly surprised, the unfamiliar emotion hadn't stopped it. The sunlight had._

_And it hungered so much more for the wait it had had to endure._

_However, crackling lazily through the atmosphere, it languidly circled around its prey. A choice came to its attention, allowing it the relaxation, despite its hunger. It wanted one. Needed, desired, and craved one. But if it were patient, allow its prey another day, then perhaps… perhaps it could have…_

_Both…?_

_SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS_

A disjointed feeling in his legs awoke Leonardo. He slowly opened his eyes, becoming more and more aware of his body. He became aware of his hands and feet, wriggling both his fingers and toes. He moved his head, stirred his shoulders, and yawned. Looking around, he found his brothers and Sensei hadn't come out of meditation yet. They were all there, and unharmed. He also noticed that the candles in the candelabras surrounding the rug had all burned out, the wax having melted into puddles on the floor. They were hard now. Judging by how tall the candle's had been, Leonardo guessed that it was morning, or close to it.

To say that Leonardo was surprised would have been the understatement of the century. Shocked, mixed with a little bit of astounded, a dash of anxiousness, a sprig of fear, and a whole lot of suspicion all whipped together in a blender of emotion, and heated on a burner of adrenaline on maximum high would come close the emotion Leonardo felt. Unfortunately, there isn't a word in the English language for it.

Why didn't the Yasha attack last night? Leonardo wouldn't have guessed that it would be the kind of demon to give up. Especially if the demon thought it had all the cards. Standing, he looked around a little more. Nothing seemed out of place.

Considering the torture that the previous day had been, Leonardo wondered if the Yasha were more calculating than he'd guessed, that it designed to wear its victim out with the thought of death being just around the corner.

Kneeling down, and shaking Donatello's shoulders—as he was the turtle closest to him. Donnie's eyes fluttered open.

"Wha—" Donatello muttered, and he rubbed his eyes with a fist.

"Donnie, the Yasha didn't come last night." Leonardo moved to wake the newly orange-clad Raphael, leaving Donatello to work out any stiffness he might have.

Reeling, trying to pull his thoughts together, it took a moment for Donatello to process what Leonardo had said. When he did, Donatello felt his stomach tighten.

_Not again._ He thought.

They would have to go through yesterday all over again, wouldn't they?

Sighing, he stood, and moved over to Splinter, gently tapping his shoulder. "Sensei. It's morning." Donatello said.

Splinter opened his eyes, and then looked at Donatello.

"The Yasha…?"

Donatello shook his head, "It didn't come."

Splinter's furry eyebrows furrowed.

A cry from behind the two of them made Donatello and Master Splinter's heads whip around.

The turtle that looked like Raphael, but—as the brothers knew—was really Michelangelo, had somehow become see-through. He still sat in meditation, and the real Raphael and Leo bent over him in consternation. Leo slowly slid his hands through the space where Mikey should have been. Raphael breathed out a breath of surprise, and circled around him.

"What…what's…?" He said, incredulously staring at his brother, horror starting to form on his face.

Donatello and Splinter slowly walked over, their eyes wide.

"This should not be." Splinter said slowly, examining his son, "If the sun has already arisen, the Yasha should not have any power over him." In the silence following this statement, he heard Raphael breathing heavily. He studied him for a moment.

Raphael struggled with something inside himself. His brain told him to be angry, to pummel the shell out of whoever was responsible for this newest horrific happening. His brain clarified that somehow, some way, some_one_ responsiblewould be whack-able. But something else, something very alien to him, told him that he should fear. That he could be the next one to suddenly start to vanish, that something horrible, and dreadfully painful could happen to him. Normally, he could drive away any such fear with his famous anger. But today…

_"Remember, you now share one another's personalities. Do not fight them, or this will in effect neutralize the whole point of the switch."_

Raphael almost heard that voice, his memory bringing back the conversation he'd had with the Baku.

_Do not fight them…_

The words rang in his ears.

Don't fight it? That's what I do! If somethin's not right, I fight until it _is_!

_Do not fight them._

Slowly, he turned off his brain. He listened to the words that made his head buzz.

His heart began to pump harder and his breath came raggedly.

I _hate_ bein' a freakin' 'fraidy cat!

_Do not fight…_

His hands began to quiver.

But I can beat it!

_Do not…_

Drawing a ragged breath, Raphael looked at his brother. Michelangelo, red-banded, and see-through, sat still and almost peaceful. He moved his hand right through his brother's form. The fact that Mikey now looked like him unnerved him even more.

The fear started to take over.

He looked at Leo, hoping for something. He didn't know what, but he knew somehow, instinctually almost, that if he looked at Leonardo, he would receive some form of comfort from him.

His hands shook badly.

Unwittingly, Leonardo had to disappoint him. He was just as confused, twice as suspicious, and maybe a little bit scared. Unlike last time, however, Leo noticed that Michelangelo didn't seem to be slowly fading away. The level of his transparency seemed to remain constant.

That's when Michelangelo opened his eyes.

Donatello called out. "Raph—uh, I mean, Mikey! You okay?"

Michelangelo furrowed his red-clad brows in confusion.

Looking around as though he were lost, he stood, putting a hand over his eyes, as though he were surveying a great distance. "Leo? Don? Raphie?" He called out questioningly. "Master Splinter? Where are you guys!?"

With confused looks on their faces, the four mutants looked at each other questioningly. Then Raphael called out, "We're here Mikey!"

Michelangelo didn't hear. He continued to call out—the others doing everything physically possible to try to let him know that they hadn't abandoned him—becoming more and more grumpy-sounding as time passed. Finally, he began to mutter under his breath, "I am so _tired_ of this whole freakin' thing! The Yasha, the thought of gettin' eaten alive, the brothers disappearing every time I open my eyes!" Michelangelo slammed a fist into his palm.

"Yes, Michelangelo," Donatello commented ironically, rolling his eyes at Michelangelo's ranting. "Our ultimate goal in life is to watch you slowly turn invisible."

Leo stepped directly in front of the red-clad ninja, waving a hand in front of his face. "He can't see or hear us. But he's not acting as though he is in any danger. Not like last time."

Master Splinter had been rubbing his chin. "This is indeed strange. It almost seems as though he is stuck in-between planes somehow: neither here nor there."

"How, though?" Leonardo asked, looking at his brother worriedly.

Raphael gave a squeak, and jumped about a foot high into the air. He was new to this whole 'more susceptible to fear' business. His eyes had caught something that startled his already overly-tense senses.

The others turned to look at him in surprise. It seemed as though he were looking at something standing in the air directly above him. He looked to be listening as well.

"You again!" Pause. "Greedy? Whaddaya mean, greedy?" He asked seemingly nothing.

Donatello felt a breath of relief wash over him. "It's the Baku," he said, hoping that the benevolent spirit would be able to fix whatever mishap had happened to Mikey.

Raphael frowned, not really listening to Donatello. "What?! Both of us?"

Leonardo nudged him with his elbow. "Hey Raph, mind telling us what the Baku's saying."

Raphael shook his head. "Not that that useless shi—ah, I mean, _spirit_ has any good news." He looked at Splinter. "I guess Mikey wasn't the only one on the menu last night. It wanted to eat me too."

Splinter's whiskers quivered at the thought.

Raph looked at his arm. The Mark showed just as sharply as it had in the beginning against his blue-ish green skin. He looked back up at the Baku, or where the other's guessed the Baku was. "So, does this mean that this thing is real now?"

A pregnant pause of silence. It was long.

Raph looked confused. Actually he looked the way Mikey looks when Donatello tries to explain something technical. Like it went right over the top of his head.

Donatello prodded, "So… what did it say?"

Raph shrugged. "Something about our switching personalities, and Mikey havin' two Marks… it's really confusin.' Uh... I guess that when we switched personalities, we fooled the Yasha all right. It thought it was goin' after me, when it was really goin' after Mike again."

"Wait a sec," Donatello queried, "You're saying that Michelangelo now has _two_ Marks?" Donatello's eyebrow ridges furrowed, "What does that do?'

Raph paused, looking up again.

"Uh… the Baku says that it's never happened before. No one's ever _had_ two Marks at once before. It says it don't know what that means for Mike. It also says that Master Splinter is right."

Leo ventured, "You mean, Mikey really is stuck between two planes?"

Raph shrugged. "Guess so…"

"Hey, didn't you say that was fatal?" Donatello asked the thin air above him.

A pause.

"Guess it isn't, not for us anyway, Donnie." Raph answered.

Another pause.

Raph's orange-masked face paled.

"What?" Everyone asked in unison.

"Ah… now that me 'n Mike are 'linked' it means… I might get stuck right along with Mike" He answered.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

You know, life just sucks. It does. It never turns out the way you expect. I was expecting the Yasha to come out and face me like a man—or a whatever that thing is. Actually, I would have preferred it, to being lost and alone in this weird unfamiliar territory I somehow found myself in. Two things I knew: I was not in the dojo, and my family had disappeared.

The land surrounding me when I first awoke was foggy, trails of mist hiding anything beyond ten feet away. Stones scattered across the grass-covered ground. The sky above was a weird color, a pinkish-purple color, as though the sun were about to set. Or rise.

The thing that freaked me out the most was the flashes. I could see little bright white flashing on the edge of my vision, but the instant I turn around to see what it is, they vanish. Poof! Just like that. And to tell you the truth, it was happening so often that I found myself getting a headache.

This, needless to say, did nothing to improve my mood. Irritable… a very good word to describe me currently. It's all Raph's fault. Why did his have to be the only switch-able body? I mean, at least Leo has a level head.

I didn't realize at the time that I was so cranky that I didn't have the opportunity to be scared, saving me from some serious life-threatening shakings in my shell. Not that the shell I now wore was really mine to begin with. Everything felt so alien to me, including my mood.

That would probably be why I didn't freak out when I saw the Yasha appear right in front of my face. Everything else was so weird, this weirdness couldn't freak me out more. I squinted my eyes at it.

This time I could see it much better. Instead of ghostly outlines, I could see it in its freaky entirety. It had silvery, liquid-like hair, as long as it was tall. It floated around the demon, as though it were in water. The Yasha's skin was white, and its body lengthy and graceful. It would have actually been something close to a demon's form of beautiful, had it not been for its face. Instead of a nose, or a mouth, a large void appeared. Its eyes, black and oval-shaped, were too big, covering most of its face. They also seemed to be multi-faceted, and glittered demonically. They were looking at me.

I pulled out Raph's sais. I had no clue if I could even fight the Yasha, but I wasn't about to let down my guard.

"Alright, Yasha, you want me?? Just try…"

My taunting fell dead in my mouth.

The Yasha had just doubled. Or… maybe it was another one…? Whatever. All I knew was that in one flash of light, another Yasha appeared next to the first one. They looked at each other for a second.

I frowned. "What the shell?"

Another flash of light. Another Yasha appeared. All three began to make a weird noise. Like a shriek, or a high-pitched humming noise.

I took a step backwards. What in the world…?

Two more flashes. Two more Yasha.

The high-pitched humming/squealing became louder. I had to cover my ears. It seemed like the Yasha looked at each other for a second, and then decided that they were more interested in me. They all looked at me. There were five of them. They were in a ring, and guess who was in the center.

That's right. Me.

I spun my sais.

I didn't know whether or not I could, but all I did know was that I right at that moment, I _wanted_ to fight them.

"Bring it on."


	8. Linked

_**Chapter Eight--Linked**_

This was definitely going to be tricky.

I found with the first couple of swings that my sai would pass right through the ghosties, but when I moved to strike with my leg, my foot impacted against its head.

Basically, I would have to find a way to pummel them to death.

_Great._

The fight began slower, the demons uniformly circling around me. Finally one zoomed at me, the air crackling electrically behind it, and I dodged to the left, trying to embed the business end of the sai into it as it flew on by. That's how I discovered that the sai actually didn't do much.

How does one kill a spirit anyway?

The demons, encouraged by my apparent lack of success then came at me swiftly, hands outstretched, as though they were going to give me a hug. I figured that was the _last_ thing they had on their minds, and I rolled, getting out of their ring. Two of them accidentally ran into each other trying to get to me. They lashed at one another viciously, their pale, long, slender fingers doubling as claws. As they tore into each other, their wounds flashed, leaking light… or so it appeared, and they sent eardrum-bursting howls my way. I resisted the urge to cover my ears, because just then I had three Yasha trailing me. Slamming one foot in the side of one of their bug-like faces, I managed to knock the floating creepazoid to the ground. It shook its head, blinked its black glittery eyes, its silver hair solidifying into spikes. It almost looked like its hair had reacted to pain, puffing up like a porcupine in danger.

That thought made me laugh out loud.

It gripped me, the laughter, my pent up anger bursting in relief on my chest. My very being clenched onto the laughter, feeling right. Feeling more… _me._

The sound made the two remaining Yasha pause.

Then I heard the voice that I hoped I would never hear again.

_"Michelangelo… I've found you."_

One of the Yasha came forward. It didn't speak, not with lips anyway. I could just feel it in my head, sort of. My skin crawled, and I felt an unusual tingling sensation begin to spread along the skin of my left arm.

I felt anger grow in my chest. Like this thing thought it would cow me into fear again? I could actually _hit_ it now! And that put me in a position of power.

Yet, that voice made me shudder.

_"You cannot run… I will have you…"_

Didn't matter. I stuck out my chin in defiance.

All five of the Yasha came together in a line in front of me, including the two that had raked each other over—their wounds had disappeared, and I guess they decided they wanted me more than they wanted to fight each other. The one that I had knocked down, whose hair I made puff up joined as well, its hair all flowy again. They looked unsure of themselves. I'm guessing that they hadn't tried to make a meal of someone that wasn't rooted to the spot in fear, and they didn't know exactly what to make of me.

The tingling sensation grew stronger, and started to spread all over my body.

The Yasha in the middle floated closer to me, and reached an arm out, trying to touch me.

I stepped back, bringing my hands into a defensive position. I felt chilled to the bone, trying to figure out how all of the sudden it knew that it was me, when I had been trying—and up 'till now, had been _successful_ at—making it believe that I was Raph.

Something grabbed me from behind, squeezing my neck until I felt as though it would snap completely off my shoulders. I wanted to cry out, but found I couldn't even breathe, much less make noise.

Suddenly, I felt that horrible sensation of pins and needles all over my body. It made me squirm, and loose focus for a few horrible seconds. It burned the worst on my left side.

_Oh shell…_

All I could think was that I had screwed up somehow, because now I could feel the awful sensation of my skin reconfiguring itself, the burning acid-like sensation that made my skin literally crawl and move, my bones and body mass adjusting as well. Three seconds of pure agony, and it was all over with.

Once released from the grasp of the pain, I realized I was still in the grasp of whatever it was, tightening its grip like a vice.

I also felt like something had a grasp on my left wrist.

Just then, I saw something large, and green on my left side, in my peripheral vision. It was sort of behind me, sort of off to my side. I tried to move my left arm, to get it away from whatever it was that had it. I yanked hard.

Raph stumbled into my view. I couldn't move my head, but I could definitely tell that it was for sure my brother.

_Wait… we switched back? How the shell…??_

His right arm had somehow connected to my left one. I could see a bright green light thingy swirling around our wrists. Raph pulled at whatever it was that bound us together, but couldn't make it give. But that freakin' grasp on my neck began to get tighter! I clawed at whatever it was, but I couldn't find it. All my fingers found were my own skin of my neck. I couldn't breathe. My vision started to go hazy.

I squeaked out, "Raph…ugh…" I couldn't say anymore.

Turns out that I didn't have to either. Raph pretty much got his bearings. He spotted something directly behind me, and made a go at it, kicking that certain something. I could hear the thud.

I was released. I turned around.

I saw a Yasha on the ground, hair all puffed up, and grasping its head.

_Now how did that one get there?_

In two seconds I realized something very important.

There were hundreds of Yasha crawling all over the place!! There was not one place that I could see that a Yasha didn't occupy. And they all looked at both Raph and I with glittering, evil eyes. An unearthly sound began to fill the air, making my skin crawl.

"Shell… I'm sooo dead!" I exclaimed.

Raph knocked me over the side of the head. "Ya mean, _we're_ so dead!"

We looked at each other for a second. I just knew my eyes were wide with horror, but Raphael's eyes narrowed. Having been in his body for the past who knew _how_ long, I knew exactly what he was thinking. No way was he gonna go down without a fight.

I felt a certain something well up inside me.

For the past four days, I'd been in danger of almost shaking completely out of my shell from fear, startled half to death, and lived with the idea that my very next moment could be my last. That gets _really_ tiring after a while. Raph was right. I wasn't going to just lay down and give up. I was going to fight 'em.

If I had thought that changing my attitude would make it less scary, I was wrong. So, so _very_ wrong. At that moment, the thousand Yasha that had their bug-like eyes on Raphie and I began to heighten that eerie noise they made. They sounded like thousands of wailing, teeth-gnashing souls, making me almost think that I had somehow crossed over into hell. The sound shook me up. I looked at Raph. His eyes were wide, and he was tenser than ever. Through my left arm, I could feel that he was shaking.

"Aw man," I managed to speak through clenched teeth, "where're the Ghostbusters when ya need em'?" The Yasha slowly began to close in on us, tightening their circle. My heart pounded so hard that I felt like I was about to have a heart-attack.

Raph looked at me as though he were a little surprised to hear a light comment leave my lips at a time like this, then he just shrugged his shoulders. "Who needs those wusses? All I want right about now is their laser packs."

Raph was definitely back. But I seriously doubted that we could defeat the Yasha at this point, even with those high-powered laser puppies.

Without any sort of warning, the first few Yasha in front of us leap at us. My ninja instincts took over, and I tried to get into a defensive position, but the problem was that Raphael tried getting into a defensive position as well. We managed to pull each other off our feet when we tried to pull our arms into the defensive stance, that freaky light not giving one inch on our wrists. We both landed on the ground with a thud and an 'omph!' The flying Yasha zoomed at us, almost on top of us now! Raph and I both gave a shout, and threw up our other hands to protect our faces from the white ghosties about to eat us alive.

Suddenly, some other couple of Yasha plowed into the first few Yasha barreling toward us, shrieks emanating from their lip-less faces. They clashed in a burst of light, and knocked them off course. Bedlam erupted from that general direction. Through my squinting eyes, I noticed that they could pierce one-another with their claw-like fingers, and light would burst forth from their bodies. Howling and high-pitched squeals of pain came from their direction. This got more Yasha involved, and soon it seemed like Raph and I were not only in hell, but also in hell in the middle of a war-zone. The general populace became confused, and disoriented, or so it looked.

I made a mental note to make my peace with the powers-that-be as soon as I got through all this. I really didn't want to end up in hell.

Raph and I pulled ourselves together, getting to our feet.

I groaned, watching nervously as the other countless Yasha still moved in slowly. "Ok Raph, we need to not forget that we're _tied_ to each other!"

Raph wasn't paying attention to me. He was looking at the vicious slashing fight to his left between some Yasha. "I think they're fightin' over _us_."

I rubbed my head. "How can you tell?"

Raphael couldn't answer. It was then that several Yasha just _appeared _in front of us, startling me. I squeaked, and backed into Raphael. We would have fallen down, but one of the Yasha in front of us put forth a pale finger, pointing at us. A white light streamed toward us, and circled around us.

Suddenly, that vice-like grip cinched around my neck. I gasped. Raphael gasped right beside me. I tried to look over but found that I couldn't move my head. I reached up a hand to loosen whatever it was around my neck. But like before, my fingers felt nothing but skin. All I could see was that one Yasha with its finger pointed at my brother and I, the stream of light like a noose around our necks, coming from the Yasha's finger. It's eyes glittered maliciously.

You know, in all the times that you spend in your life hearing from your father how important you are to him in your life, how you know that life would be unpleasantly different without you our your brothers, how ironic is it to find that to some creepy demon, you are nothing to them but food?

Now I knew how my pizza felt.

I tried to suck in air. I tried kicking at the demon, but it was too far away. The vice tightened more. Despite my struggles, I could hear Raph trying to do the same thing. I could only guess that he'd been caught up in the horrible suffocating grip as well.

Without a doubt, I would have been nothing but Yasha chow had not another Yasha come and grab hold of my arm, and start dragging Raphael and I away.

The suffocating white light of power broke, after being pulled a little ways away. The one Yasha shrieked in with rage, and flew toward us, grabbed Raphael's other arm, and pulled the opposite direction.

Maybe after a certain distance their power doesn't work.

I couldn't ponder exactly what that would mean for us though, as Raphael and I somehow found ourselves a part of a living tug-o-war experience. It's amazing that our arms weren't completely pulled out of their sockets.

"Guys, guys!" I managed to get out between grunts, trying to wrench free of the one Yasha's grasp. "Can't we just call it a draw?"

"Ugh, that's it!" Raph rumbled.

He twisted his body so that he could kick the living snot out of the arm of the Yasha that held him. The Yasha shrieked and pulled away, its hair puffing up again. With his arm free, and the other Yasha still pulling, we zoomed in one direction. I finally got my feet in a position to snap-kick the sucker right in the head, and it let go of me pretty quickly.

Keyed up now, Raph and I landed on our feet. The other thousand Yasha that weren't fighting turned to look our way. We were in way over our heads, and we knew it.

More Yasha zoomed in our direction. Getting the hang of being tied together, this time, we ducked, letting them float on by.

More came, and this time, Raph and I clothes-lined 'em, holding out our strapped-together hands.

It's funny. As predator-like as the Yasha seemed, they didn't seem to be brilliant fighters. They were clumsy, and easily distracted. But what they lacked in skill they made up with sheer number.

The more we took out, more would always come to take their place. But they became more cautious. Many tried to use their little magical hang-noose thingy to suffocate us, but they quickly stopped, once they figured that other Yasha would come and steal us out of their zone of power. They had to move in close enough for physical contact. Maybe like the first time when the one Yasha tried to suck whatever it was sucking out of the Mark. It had to touch it first. I guess the only thing I could be happy about at that moment was that those who were nearest usually got into a full-fledged cat-fight with one another over us, making less enemies for us to have to handle, and harder for the rest to reach us.

I can't describe how awkward it is to fight with one hand connected to another person. It was like having one arm tied behind your back. We soon learned that we could work better in cooperation: one vault the other at a Yasha, the other would kick, and so on.

I was running out of breath.

"Raph, we can't just fight them all!" I ducked from a flying demon.

"Do you see any other choice?" He punched one, and I grabbed it by an arm as it flew by, swung, and slammed it into another. They collapsed to the ground, pain making their hair puff up.

I looked around. It seemed so hopeless.

Man, right at that moment, I just wanted my brothers there with me. Leo would know what to do. Or if he didn't, Donnie would _think_ of something to do. Maybe if Master Splinter were here…

_Master Splinter! That's it!_

I looked at Raph. "Raph, we need Master Splinter!"

He looked at me as though I had gone crazy. "What?"

I yanked our bound arms, pulling him toward me, grabbing him by the shoulders, using him as a shield against a Yasha. He then flipped away over my back to pummel one with his feet behind me.

"I said—"

"I know whachya said, Mike." Raph interrupted me. "Master Splinter ain't _here._"

I turned to face him. I'm pretty sure I had an excited look on my face, feeling that rare occasion when I had a good idea pop into my head. "Yeah, I know."

His argument deflated. All he looked now was confused.

I explained. "How did we even get here in the first place, Raph? We were _meditating._" I used Raph as leverage to vault me into the air to kick at an oncoming Yasha.

See, it all of the sudden hit me. If Donnie could figure out how to reach Master Splinter, and do it under the influence of that Triceraton mind-reading doohickey, then we could do it… even if we had to battle a bunch of Yasha at the same time. Heck, maybe we could even get Master Splinter here for _real._

Raph took the momentum of my vault to leap into the air himself. We managed to knock five down at once that way. And I almost cracked up with laughter to see five sets of hair poof with pain simultaneously. When we landed, Raph shook his head. "I _wasn't_ meditating when I got pulled into _this_ wack-house."

Now I deflated.

"Really?" I administered a simple duck-and-punch to a Yasha coming too near. Then I furrowed my eyebrow ridges. Did that really matter? I didn't think so. "But… but… Raph, remember Donnie…?"

Understanding dawned on his face. "Oh yeah…"

A group of Yasha came at us once this time, grabbing and clawing at us. They managed to pin us to the ground, one of them actually getting a hold of my arm—the one with the Mark on it. It yanked my right arm, stretching it away from me to its limit.

"Yeowch!" I cried, trying to use my muscles to keep it from tearing out of my arm socket.

The Yasha's groping fingers then headed straight for the Mark on my arm. Or… Marks?

What I had assumed was one Mark actually was _two_ Marks top-to-bottom, and almost overlapping on my arm. Two?? How the shell did _that_ happen?

Suddenly burning white pain ripped through my body, and I shouted in agony. I looked, and saw a bright blue stream of light being sucked right out of me through the Mark, and absorbed into the outstretched and shuddering hand of the Yasha. I clenched my eyes in pain and anguish. Somehow, through the mind-numbing pain, I could hear Raphael roaring in agony right along with me.

_This is it…_ I thought. _This is where we die…_

No sooner did that ever so pleasant thought cross my mind then I felt something pull me out from underneath the pile of Yasha by my left arm. The Yasha that had a grip on my arm, and whatever it was sucking out of me shrieked. I opened my eyes in shock to watch as the blue-white light returned to me, the Yasha writhing in anger. The pain stopped, and someone yanked me the rest of the way out of the mess of Yasha that had been piled on top of me. Those that tried to come after me were met by those who were also trying to come after me, and another vicious fight broke out between them.

I looked to my left arm and found that it had been Raph pulling me out of the pile. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Aw man, I think I just about died back there."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Ya think?"

"Could you feel that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Duh," Raph said.

I was gonna ask how, but all of the sudden, Raph and I found ourselves on the outskirts of the war zone. A split second later found us running, trying to find somewhere—_anywhere_—that we could hide from the Yasha. Any nook or cranny would do. As we ran, I still found that I was miffed over all of the sudden having two Marks on my arm—as if one weren't bad enough—and confused about why Raph could feel it when the Yasha tried to eat me.

"Yo, Raph!" I jiggled the arm that was tied to his to get attention, "Look at this." I showed him the magically multiplied Mark, while trying not to trip on any random rocks while running.

"Yeah, I know." Came his reply.

Confused, I halted, breathing heavily. "What do you mean, 'you know'? How?"

Raph pulled on my arm, to keep us moving, not having time to answer at the moment. When I turned around, I realized why.

The thousand Yasha that had surrounded us previously now realized that we were missing, and followed us at a break-neck pace. My heart leaped into my throat. Do you know how scary it is to see a wall of Yasha flying at you, full-speed?

"Iiieeee!!" I screamed, "We're doomed!"

Raph just yanked on our linked arms, stopping my full-fledge panicked hysteria before it could fully get started.

"Keep runnin', chicken. It ain't over 'till its over."

It took us several minutes of hard-core running to realize that the landscape was completely flat, except for some random rocks strewn all over the place. A.k.a.: no place to hide. But if we didn't find some other way to disappear, and fast, we were as good as puppy chow.

This is where all my skills at running away really came in handy. I guessed that next time Master Splinter told me that pulling pranks was a waste of time, I could just tell him that if it weren't for all those times that I learned to run, Raphie-boy and I probably wouldn't be alive. That is, if there ever were _gonna_ be a next time. All I knew is that soon I felt winded beyond belief, and noticed that even Raph seemed to be lagging. I began to pull ahead, and somewhat dragging Raph along at the same time. I never really took the time to look back to often, but I noticed that since Yasha float, they could go faster, and didn't seem to be winded at all, and they gained on us little by little. But with all the adrenaline pumping through our system, it would still be a while before they found us. If only we could find a hiding spo—

Suddenly, the ground that had appeared to be so solid collapsed under the pounding of our running feet. We fell maybe ten feet or so before landing on our shells on something soft and squishy. Even though I felt happy for the padded landing, I just didn't want to know what it was I landed _in_. It felt slimy too. We covered our faces from the falling debris.

After the rumbling stopped, both Raph and I looked up at the opening, holding our breaths as the seconds ticked by, hoping beyond hope that the Yasha would be fooled, and that we hadn't just fallen into a tiger death-trap, so to speak.

The Yasha, all thousand or so of them zoomed on by, determined to catch up to us if it was the last thing that they did.

Raph whispered, gasping for breath, "This… ain't gonna fool them… for long."

I put both hands on my knees, panting, trying desperately to get my wind back. "Yeah," I puffed, "But it'll give… us enough time… to try and contact… Sensei… and the others."

Raph shook his head, as if he still didn't believe that it would really work, slowly shuffling his feet, coaxing his heart rate and breathing back to normal. I did the same thing. Soon, we were able to at least speak normally again.

"Mikey, if we're gonna do this, someone needs to keep watch, just in case those Yasha come back." Raph pointed out.

"You volunteering?"

Raph nodded.

I just shrugged. At least now I wouldn't have to worry so much about the Yasha that might find us, and I'd be able to concentrate on purely meditating.

_Would this even work?_ I asked myself.

I figured that it couldn't hurt, no matter what happened.

It wasn't until later that I would find out how wrong I was.

I assumed the Mountain Pose—because Raph and I were still tied up—aligning the entire length of my body in a vertical, hands at my sides, feet together. To tell you the truth my wrist was starting to get a little sore from the bond. Raph allowed his arm to relax so that I could better position my arm to meditate. I took in several deep breaths, and let them go, breathing away my tension. For some reason, I had no trouble at all opening my mind, and quieting my thoughts. It almost seemed as though my ability to meditate had been enhanced somehow… although, I'm not exactly sure how.

It took several minutes of ultra-concentration, but I could feel my mind begin to link, and then I felt him.

Master Splinter!

Strangely, I could feel a whirlwind of emotion being sent to me from my father. Mixtures of relief, fear, hope, and insecurity. I knew that my whole family probably had to be almost eating their hands with worry about whether or not Raphael had even survived this long. I furrowed my eyebrow ridges, and tried to send to Sensei that I was okay, but unsure how. I remembered how I felt when I had switched in Raph's body. I wished I could feel defiant at a time like this, but unfortunately, Raphael and I had switched back. I felt scared—no, way beyond scared: _petrified._ I wanted Master Splinter here. I wanted everyone here. I knew that Raph and I _needed_ them here. But even through my fear, I felt hopeful.

I hoped I even made sense to Splinter. Furiously, tried to send him words.

_Get here NOW!_

In an instant, I felt someone pull at my mind, and I made no effort to stop the pull.

Darkness lifted away from my mind's inner eye, and I could see…

_Splinter knelt on the floor, his palms on his knees, in meditation. I sat directly in front of him, lotus-style, my fingers touching my thumbs, hands resting on my knees as well. _

_I knew this had to be in my head, knowing that this would be the one place that Splinter could bring me. _

_The dojo was dark, lit only by candle light, in the tall candelabras surrounding the carpet. I couldn't see anything else, not the walls of the dojo, or my brothers._

"_Splinter?" I queried._

"_My son, I am with you." He replied. He opened his eyes, and I could see his eyes welling up with tears of relief. I could feel a rope of strength being sent into me from him._

_That's when I felt tears welling up in my own eyes. I was getting so tired. I was tired with fighting, tired of feeling scared, and tired of running away from the danger. _

_The lifeline of strength being sent to me was like a breath of fresh air. Somehow, father knew what I needed. He always does._

"_My son, there are things I know that you must know." Splinter spoke. _

_I nodded, listening._

_Splinter began. "You are trapped in-between planes. We can see you, and hear you, but cannot touch you."_

_I let out a breath of air, "Then we really _are_ on our own?" _

_Splinter shook his head. "No, my son, I will still be with you. Leonardo and Donatello will be with you. We will be with you for as long as you need us."_

_That's when I began to feel them. Strength pouring in on me from all sides. Donnie and Leo! I could feel them sending their strength to me, and I could feel it warm my body, and flow through me, my arm, into Raph as well. _

_We were being fed with strength. I had never tasted anything more delicious._

_But Splinter hadn't finished yet. "You also have two Marks now. We've spoken with the Baku. It says that that is the reason for you being stuck as you are. And my son, it says that the two marks seem to irresistibly call the Yasha to you."_

_So _that's_ why all those Yasha appeared at once._

_I nodded, knowing from the look in my father's eye that this wasn't it. He said, "And Michelangelo, remember what I've taught you. I do not know what lies ahead for you, my son, or Raphael. But I do know that whatever fate lies in store for you, the same fate will fall upon Raphael. You two are linked."_

_So when the Yasha tries to suck out my life, Raph can feel it too? It made sense… but one more thing…"But why did we switch back?"_

_Splinter shook his head. "That I do not know."_

_Master Splinter began to fade, he looked distracted._

_No! It was too soon to go! I wanted to stay in this place in my mind. My safe harbor from the storm that I'd found myself in. But I could see that Splinter was about to disappear. I wanted to tell my sensei—my father—something important. _

"_Master Splinter if we don't make it back, I just wanna say—"_

Suddenly, I felt my arm wriggle. Raph was jiggling it.

My mind reeled, and I lost my concentration.

I opened my eyes, seeing something that I never expected, not in a million years.

A hole had opened up in the earth wall in front of us, whirling with white light. It was taller than Raph and I by three heads, and just as wide, a perfect circle. Through the center, I saw them. Standing with wide eyes, and open-mouthed. My brothers, my father. My family!

I looked at Raphael, and he looked at me. We both said it at the same time.

"YES!"

We didn't know how this miracle could have occurred. But to us, it didn't matter.

_"Raph! Mikey!" _

Leonardo had to shout, and he sounded so far away. But at least we could hear each other!

"Leo! Don! Splinter!" I shouted back.

Donatello moved, exploring the weird ring of light with his hands. They moved through as though it were nothing. He reached out for me. I took his hand.

_"C'mon Mikey!" _Don shouted, still sounding distant, but trying to pull me through.

I moved to step through, hoping with all my heart that this whole thing was over with, but as soon as any part of me tried to step through, the whole thing flashed, a sub-bass noise sounding from it. I met resistance, and no matter how hard Donnie tried to pull me through, I just couldn't go.

I yelled toward him, "No, you come _this _way!" I arranged a grip on his arm, and maneuvered to pull him through. He started to come my way…

Ok, so I'd like to say that Don and everyone else stepped through the portal, and we kicked every single one of the Yasha ghost-butts back to wherever the heck it is that they came from. I'll even admit that at this point, I was imagining myself sitting comfortably back at home with everyone, drinking hot chocolate, eating pizza, and regaling to Casey and April how magnificent I'd been, how the Yasha didn't stand a chance once we got the gang together, and everything I could about our victory.

Fate sure has a funny way of backhanding you across the face when you least expect it.

Both Raphael and I were brought meanly back to reality when we heard the creepy, unearthly humming, filling our bodies with shivers of dread. My skin people-bumped again, and I could feel a twitch in Raph's arm. We looked at each other with wide eyes, and then we looked up.

Have you ever had your heart stop, a rock drop in the pit of your stomach, and your muscles twitch involuntarily all at the same time? I'm just going to warn you that it's not a pleasant experience, so don't try it.

We saw them swarming like bugs in the air outside the hole we'd accidentally fallen into, many peeking over the edge, down at us, their overlarge eyes shifting, moving, pulsating.

_"What's happening?" _Donatello shouted, still sounding as though he were so far away.

We looked back at him, but weren't given a chance to answer. I still had a grip on Donatello's arm when they attacked us. They flew at us, shrieking, their claw-like fingers finally turning on us. I let go of Donnie, and he fell backwards into the shimmering hole, into Leonardo and Splinter. Out of the corner of my eye, I think I noticed several Yasha taking an interest in the hole. But if I didn't get completely focused on protecting myself, I knew that I would last maybe two seconds. They were angry—_livid—_all but frothing at the mouth (as they have no mouths.) They crawled all over; at times their claws bit into my flesh.

Raphael and I had little room to maneuver, and so we turned back to back, trying to defend ourselves one-handed, because there wasn't any room to kick. My bound wrist was beginning to throb. Grim faced, I blocked blows from the hideous demons, and threw punches of my own. I didn't know if it would be enough.

Suddenly, a bright white light flashed. Shrieks of pain emanated from the many Yasha in our hole, trying to get at us. Some fell to the earth, twitching. Both Raph and I yelled, throwing up our hands to protect our eyes.

Then everything fell silent.

A whispery fluty voice came to us out of the light. _"Your lives will be rendered in return for service required."_

The voice floated, but filled the room perfectly, sudden quiet heightening it.

Before I could argue, before Raph could get mad, before we could even answer, I felt something touch my shoulder: the room disappeared from before my eyes, and where it had been was replaced by darkness.

* * *

They were in the lair. The evil things that Mikey had described. Donatello didn't think that the description did them justice at all. They were horribly ugly, with their protruding eyes taking over their mouth-less, mirthless faces. Swirling hair all but blinded him as they attacked.

_How are they able to interact with us?_ Donatello questioned himself, trying to figure that one out.

Leonardo tried to keep as close to the portal as possible, trying to get _through_ the portal, but the things kept flying through it, and shortly Leo found himself overrun with the evil Yasha. Donatello had brought out his bo in an attempt to fight the Yasha, but for some reason, his weapon would swipe right through the being without damaging it in the least.

Leonardo had the same problems. Soon, they both switched gears into full fledged hand-to-hand combat. But the more they fought, the more would come through the portal.

Through all this, Donatello noticed that Master Splinter fought little, and had a more focused look on his face. He thought that Sensei must have been trying to keep in touch with Michelangelo, with all his faculties, keeping their tie together. He had a look on his face that said "I will NOT loose my sons again!"

What Donatello didn't know was that Master Splinter could still feel contact with Michelangelo and Raphael. He still felt that he was able to send them that lifeline of strength that he knew they'd needed so badly. And no matter what happened, Master Splinter would not sever that connection.

Never.

A major problem Donatello saw was that they weren't hindered in the least by floors, or walls, or ceilings. He knew that soon, they'd move out of the lair, and begin to hurt innocent people, knowing they would kill them if they got the chance.

He yelled over at Leonardo, "Looks like the only thing that can affect them is living matter! We have to figure out a way to shut the portal! "

Leonardo had just thrown one that had tried to attack him from behind. "No, Don, we've got to keep that portal open! We've got to get to Raph and Mike!"

Donatello dodged a Yasha, moving closer to the portal, being able to see through it into a dark cave-like place, watching his brothers fight desperately for their lives. Leo was right; they needed to get to them. His mind was reeling, working it all out.

He guessed that being stuck in-between planes like that made it so that making contact with each other through meditation had a similar affect on their surroundings, 'linking' one plane with the other.

Donatello had never been more relieved in his life when they'd made contact. After Raph had disappeared, the rest of the family had been forced to watch them fight against the unknown enemies that assailed them, but unfortunately, they'd fought until they moved from the middle of the lair, and through a wall… where Donatello couldn't follow.

Clipping his musings off short, he brought his focus back to the fight. It took no time at all to realize that although it seemed as though the Yasha could feel pain, they just wouldn't _die!_ No matter how hard one hit, no matter _what _one hit.

Despite the fighting, no one in the lair missed the bright flash of white light. It even overpowered the electric lighting of the air, bringing everyone to a halt, throwing up hands to protect eyes. The invading Yasha shrieked in pain, Donatello squinted open an eye, and noticed that they'd fallen to the floor, as though the flash had paralyzed them. They fell silent.

Then the voice came.

It sounded like the Baku, and it chilled Donatello to the bone.

_"Your lives will be rendered in return for service required."_

With that, the light disappeared.

Lowering their arms, Leonardo, Donatello, and Master Splinter gathered around the portal. It still shimmered, but it glowed with a fainter light than before. It still swirled, but more slowly. And no matter how much they looked, Raph and Mike were nowhere to be seen.

"Where… where are they?" Donatello asked, his voice shaking.

Leonardo tried to put an arm through the portal as Donatello had done, but it stopped as though glass separated them from the other portal.

Master Splinter could feel his connection with Michelangelo and Raphael begin to slip away from him. He stiffened.

Just then, an ethereal, spine-tingling humming filled the air. Through the portal, Donatello and Leonardo could see the Yasha rise from the ground, shrieking and wailing. A similar noise behind them made them whirl around, gasping. Apparently the flash only temporarily paralyzed the twenty or so Yasha that had made it into the lair. They moved slowly at first, still trying to shake off whatever it was that had caused them such pain. The Yasha on the other side of the portal looked toward the two turtles and the rat with interest, slowly floating toward them.

Donatello knew what they had to do, and knew that he didn't have much time to do it in. He couldn't risk the chance that any more Yasha would get through. He turned to his father, "Master Splinter! Quick, you've got to let go of Michelangelo."

Startled, the old rat looked about to refuse.

Donatello explained, "It's what's linking us to that side! You have to let them go."

Leonardo shook his head, "No! Donnie, we've got to help them!"

Donatello shook his head, eyeing the Yasha encircling the portal, their shrieks sounding far away, as though coming from one end of a very long tunnel. "They're not _there!_ Leo, if we don't get the portal shut _now_ more Yasha will get through. They'll _kill _people!"

"But the Baku said that Yasha needed..." Leonardo petered off. The Yasha had obviously been interacting with _them_ without Marks, or any other sort of supernatural ability.

He whispered dangerously, "The Baku _lied._"

The portal flickered once, and then flashed out, with a whoosh.

Leonardo and Donatello looked at Master Splinter in surprise.

With a devastated tone, he whispered, "Goodbye, my sons."


	9. No Help

_**A/N: **Sorry it took so long to finish the next chapter. I had such a busy December! Christmas, company, and moving back out to college. Lots of stuff going on. Luckily I've got an hour in my schedule where I think I'm gonna start writing, so I can finish this story faster! Just you watch, we'll be done before ya know it! Enjoy!_

_**Chapter 9 – No Help**_

The portal was gone. In an instant, in one flash of light everything went horribly wrong. Their two brothers were gone, and neither Splinter, Leonardo, nor Donatello knew if they would even see them again. The ghoulish voice of the Baku had pretty much confirmed that. As far as Donatello could guess, when the Baku said _'your lives will be rendered in return for service required,' _it really meant, _I helped you out, so now your lives are forfeit._

But Donatello couldn't stop to think on how in the world they were going to save their brothers. Leonardo couldn't formulate a plan. Master Splinter couldn't ponder, think it through, nor even meditate, all because of one thing: the Yasha.

There was absolutely no time.

About a minute after the flash, the Yasha fully gained functionality of their faculties once more, and they were angry. In two seconds, they fell upon the mutants viciously, slashing and shrieking, making all of their ears ring. Through the mayhem, Donatello was able to make a slight observation. In the sixty seconds that they'd had until the Yasha had fully recovered, the Yasha had floated, a low humming noise coming from their slow-moving direction. They looked confused, and disoriented. Donatello guessed that this had been from the paralyzing effect of the flash of light from the Baku, but then he saw it. So subtle that it was hard to catch, but Donatello had been in the middle of a head-count to make sure that not one of them could escape to wreak havoc up top. But he could see it in their oversized eyes. Simultaneously, their lost look disappeared, to be replaced with a crazy stir, a heightening of sound, screeching, and then all twenty-seven of them turned each of their mouthless heads on the three of them.

_Something about us is drawing them to us. _

What Donatello didn't know was that in the first five seconds of shaking off the intense pain, the Yasha could sense something different. Not knowing what the change in them was, they looked around in confusion. Sight changed, from seeing the energetic expulses generated by other living things—the energy they fed on—to seeing color, shapes, and depth. In the next couple of seconds, their minds focused inward, trying to analyze this change. Oddly enough their sense of energy—their ability to feel what could feed them, their intense craving for it—vanished, to be replaced by something incredibly alien to them, changing them. Their predatorial minds lacked a higher level of understanding, so they failed in any analysis. All they knew was that the change brought something new that smacked them full in their faces. This new something permeated the air like an invisible trail. To them, it equated to the feeling of craving they felt when they sensed the life-energy within their prey. It called to them just the same, or maybe even more so—followable, a definite source.

What these invaders couldn't describe was something that those on the plane of earth take for granted every day: the sense of smell. But for them this odd new sense was specific. They could smell blood; pumping, pulsating, delectable blood, within every living thing in proximity. The smell strengthened them and weakened them. They needed it, the only thing their minds could grasp.

And the second the pain left their bodies entirely, they knew where the source was. Hunger took a firm grasp on their actions, making them captive to its will; a cruel lord sovereign. They could hear hearts beating within three forms. They attacked.

Each member of the incomplete family could be described as being in a state of shock, each one desiring a few moments to pull it together, get their heads working again, but there was no time. No time to think, no time to even grasp their situation—much less the situation their two lost family members could be dealing with, what horrors they might be facing. They were facing horrors of their own.

Donatello took on about nine of them, dodging claws as best he could, and dealing out many blows. His main concern remained that one of them might phase through the ceiling and into the unsuspecting city above.

"Leo!" he called, as he blocked a clawed arm, and put it down with a cutting blow from his forearm. "We need to keep them from reaching the surface! There are twenty—"

"Twenty-seven of them, I know!" Leo didn't look over: he was too busy watching claws flying at him from all sides. He had one in his arms, and used it to take the blows the others were dishing out.

With all the Yasha moving around, Leonardo thought, _Geeze, keeping count's gonna be a joke._

"My sons!" The call came from behind them. The turtles swiveled around. Master Splinter had somehow attracted most of the Yasha, probably because he was warm-blooded, and it let out a more tantalizing smell. Whatever the reason, the Yasha swarmed all over him.

Donatello and Leonardo fought through the Yasha that slashed at them to defend their father, and were able to pull away enough Yasha to give him a chance.

One reached up to slash open Donatello's throat, to spill the blood that teased it so, but Leonardo gave a shout and violently kicked it back. Every time he hit one of these things, he felt a release. As tense and as stretched as his emotional rope had become, it felt good, right, and relieving to cause pain to the ones that had dished so much out. His guilt burned in the back of his brain, sending fire into his extremities. How could he _not_ have listened to that feeling, that nagging, nibbling doubt that something about the Baku was not quite right?

Once he'd gotten the Yasha away from his father, he kicked it again. "Do _not_ touch my family!" He roared.

Leonardo was fed up. And _there_ were the culprits, practically begging to be hurt—to be lashed out at with everything that he had.

Finally something he could hit.

Loosing sight of the rest, knowing that the other two could handle them, he launched himself at his prey. He struck flat-palmed: a blow designed to kill. Its hair—previously long, flowing, white and shimmering—puffed up, spiked sticking up at all angles. An unholy howl came rushing out of the demon, making the Yasha pause in their attack, agitated by the sound, their senses on overload. Master Splinter and Donatello flattened their hands over their ears. Writing and thrashing, lashing out with claws, the thing fell to the floor, Leonardo still on top.

He delivered another power-packed kill strike, and the howls intensified. Light burst forth from the impacted area; Leonardo's fingertips seemed to have pierced the Yasha's pale flesh—embedded in the neck area.

Leonardo hit again. The demon now shrieked—a continuous, high-pitched squeal of pain, loud—poor Sensei's sensitive ears rung painfully from the sound.

The impacted area flashed with light again, Leonardo's fingers sinking deeper into its neck. But when he removed his fingers, the puncture wound healed, closing quickly, the light disappearing.

He struck again, and again, and again. Each time the strikes became more and more frantic, his ki-yah's cracking in his throat from the exertion he put into them. The Yasha's horrible noise seemed to have reached an ear-splitting plateau, maintaining its ear-piercing intensity.

"Why won't you **_die!!_**" Leonardo finally shouted at last, breathing heavily, his hands aching from the many, many blows he had delivered to the demon. He moved to strike again, but something caught his arm.

It was Sensei. He'd laid his ears flat against his head and he eyes were squinted with pain. Without a word, he pulled Leonardo a few steps from the Yasha. Leonardo wanted to resist, wanting to continue his bombardment of pain.

"Stop, Leonardo." Master Splinter tried to yell through the noise, "This is not helping."

Leonardo breathed in heavily, listening to the high-pitched squealing slowly die down, its wounds that oozed light re-healing themselves. He knew Sensei was right. They needed a _real_ solution, but he didn't know what that would be. He obviously couldn't kill them: they seemed to be immortal. As the screams of the Yasha died away, the others that had been on sense-overload got their bearings again, and attacked them once more. This time the turtles stayed closer to Master Splinter, to keep him from being bombarded by enemies once more.

"Don, I've got nothing!" Leo yelled, twisting away from some claws, and spin-kicked his way through a tangle of them. "You come up with something?"

Donatello's brain had been working away, like it normally does in such a situation. "It's obvious we can't kill them Leo!" He yelled back to his brother. "So we've got to trap them somehow."

"Which would seem unfeasible," added Splinter, who'd just lashed his tail at one Yasha, while simultaneously slamming the body of another into a full group of demons. "As no physical objects can affect them."

Donatello thought hard, trying to think through his movement, and the pain of being slammed against time and time again by claws, bodies, and the floor. Master Splinter was right. Only living matter could effect these demons.

Suddenly, Leonardo went flying, flung by an angry Yasha that had phased through the floor and come up from underneath him, desiring blood. He impacted against one of the posts surrounding the lower level of the lair. The sharp edge of the stone cut a gash across his forehead. He fell without a sound, lying on the ground, stunned.

At once, the Yasha paused in their fight against Master Splinter and Donatello, and then swarmed over to Leonardo's bleeding form. Master Splinter and Donatello charged into the fray to save him from being killed by what appeared to be a frightening pack of ravenous wolves.

Donatello analyzed this instantly. He'd figured out what it was about them that the Yasha were attracted to.

"Blood!" He called to Sensei, bapping scrabbling hands away from his brother, who slowly began to move, using his arms as barrier between the now frenzied demons and the wound on his head. "They're attracted to our blood!"

Splinter—who stood practically on Leonardo, pushed back time and time again, almost unable to keep up—yelled through gritted teeth. "Perhaps we can use this against them!"

Donatello wanted to pause, to think this new bit of data through, but Leonardo had not quite gotten up on his feet. Forced to think on his toes—literally—he suddenly had a ray of light strike his brain. An idea. It was completely unorthodox, and the chances of it actually working were practically nil. But it was an idea!

Leonardo stood, getting his wits back together again. He needed them, too, for it was him that the Yasha set upon, their only desire to somehow taste of the sweet-smelling liquid that taunted them. Master Splinter and Donatello could only detract the Yasha's attention for so long before it would evade them to attack Leonardo. It took all his concentration to avoid being slashed wide open by their claws. As it was, he took some slashes to his forearms, which only further frenzied the now mindless demons.

"Leo! Splinter!" Donatello called, trying to get in close to Leonardo, to protect him from the chaos, "We need to move underground more!"

Leonardo didn't look over to his brother, trying to stay focused on protecting himself, but he felt a burst of relief flow through his chest. "You have an idea?" He shouted back to his brother.

Donatello swung a left hook hard at a Yasha trying to get away from him, putting it down, even though he knew it would be down only temporarily. "I might be able to find a way to trap the Yasha, if we can get them down into that abandoned Foot lab—"

He cut himself off, as he dove into several Yasha at once, who had been coming up on Master Splinter from behind. Splinter attempted to pull as many Yasha into a fight with him at once, knowing that the more he distracted from Leonardo, the more of a chance they would have to come up with a plan.

Leonardo digested this, attempting to find a place to pull himself out of the middle of his enemies—an opening in their wall of demonic rage—but he couldn't get through. By now his arms, and legs had been raked over so much that his blood now dripped freely on the ground. Instantly, demons left Leonardo to crouch on the floor, placing their grasping hands over the drips. Once they removed them, the drips would be gone. Several Yasha slashed at other Yasha to try to get to the blood droplets first. Many fights broke out between themselves. The mutants were given a slight respite from the fighting. They stood, breathing heavily.

"Now is the time!" Splinter called, "We must act quickly!"

Whipping around to Donatello, Leonardo said, "That trek is at least three hours by foot. How—?"

Donatello's face lit up. "The bikes! We can take the shell-cycles, and get there in a fraction of the time!"

The Yasha had all but disinfected the floor of the lair of Leonardo's blood, and now they wanted some more. They flew at him once more.

Splinter lead Donatello and Leonardo into the room conjoining the lair where they'd stored their bikes for the time being. Leonardo's blood dripped, creating a trail that the Yasha lapped up like so many bloodhounds. Quickly, Donatello and Leonardo revved up their bikes. Master Splinter took the spare seat behind Donatello, and they practically flew down the tunnel into the sewer. Since the Tunneler had already dug out a large enough hole for their bikes, the mutants gained a little bit of a head start. They were going to need it. It would take a long time even with the bikes to get to their destination, and they had the whole pack of Yasha hot on their trail.

* * *

It was dark. I could barely make out Raph, and that was only because I could see what little light there was reflecting off his eyes. I felt that strong rope of strength that had been feeding me suddenly ebb away. It left me a little weak, but stronger than I would have been if we hadn't been able to tap into it in the first place. Raph rubbed his eyes. 

"Ya know," he yelled out to the darkness, "I'm gettin' just a little tired of bein' yanked from one place to another!"

Nothing. Just swirling blackness.

I felt my muscles tense, my sixth sense for impending danger going bonkers. "This is bad, Raphie. Real bad."

"Ya think?"

I could feel him tense up too. We both could feel it. Something was watching us.

It occurred to me that I probably knew who it was watching us.

I dropped my defense, and brought up my un-bound hand to my face, cupping the side of my mouth like a megaphone. "Ok, Baku! You brought us here. Now whaddaya want?!" I shouted to the darkness.

Movement. Something bright appeared in front of us, glowing white like a light-bulb. It swirled for a moment, and then came together.

It was the little girl/Baku thing. The brown hair, and white dress, with the black sash.

"_I apologize for our abrupt request, but we have finally discovered a way to protect all from the evils of the Yasha, and require your assistance."_

Raph narrowed his eyes. "Require? You're not askin,' are ya?"

The bright spirit in front of us lowered its head. _"Sadly, no. We've brought you here because we wish to trade."_

"Trade?" I asked. "Um, I think we already owe you for helping us. What do you want from us?"

The Baku looked deadly serious.

"_You are indebted to us. With your help, the Yasha will have been defeated, then we will be in your debt. That is what we require."_

"Hmmmm…" I mused, "So we'll switch. Instead of us owing you, you'll owe us." I shrugged. "Sounds pretty good to me." I looked over to Raph.

He didn't look very happy. He clenched his fists. "What's the catch?"

I rolled my eyes. _Great_, I thought, _he's goin' Leo on me now._

The Baku hesitated for a moment, and then said, _"You may not survive the task we wish you to accomplish."_

Both Raph's eyes and my eyes went wide.

"What!" we exclaimed in unison.

The Baku launched into an explanation. _"When the Yasha marked Michelangelo once again, it unwittingly created a 'lure.' The Yasha seem to be irresistibly drawn toward Michelangelo, or more importantly, the Double Mark."_ Motioning around the area we were in, it said, _"This plane of existence we currently inhabit we Baku put together as soon as we realized why the Yasha are drawn to Michelangelo. It is designed for the Yasha specifically. Once inside, they cannot get out."_

"_Admittedly, there could be flaws in our design that would allow the Yasha to escape, but it will hold them for a while, for certain. That is all the time we Baku need to construct a more permanent residence for our lifelong menace."_

I saw where this was going. "Uh uh. No way. There's no way I'm gonna be fish bait, here."

Raph just folded his arms, not needing to state that he was pretty much thinking the same thing.

"_I am sorry, Michelangelo, unfortunately, we cannot allow you to have a choice in the matter. It is necessary for us to be able to defeat our adversaries. You are currently in our debt. If you survive, then your debt will be ours."_

I felt my heart begin to race. "What if we die?! Huh?? What then? How could you ask us to give up our lives when we're in your debt for saving them?"

"_Then the Baku will be indebted to your sacrifice; this we will strive to repay until the balance is in harmony again."_

"But—" I tried to argue.

"_These matters are far beyond yourselves. Have you not considered that many lives have been sacrificed in the battle? How many innocent lives have been taken. Should you die, you will only be two among many who have forfeited their lives as well. But this battle means the difference in the Balance in the multi-verse. Right now the Balance is skewed, leaving no way to cancel out the evil of the Yasha. Only you have the ability to bring harmony to the Balance, and now is the only time to act."_

I opened my mouth to try and argue again, but it was Raph of all people to interrupt me next.

"Don't, Mike." He said. "Just don't. We ain't gonna win this one."

I bit my lip nervously. Ok, so here we were in some sort of ghost-trap, acting as the bait. The Baku didn't even think that we'd make it. Should I be worried, I ask you? I mean, my fighting skills were even hampered by the light-thingy that held Raph and my wrists together. It was like trying to fight one-handed.

I decided to ask for a consolation. "Ok, fine. We're gonna have to stay and fight this one out. But could'ja at least untie our wrists?"

The Baku looked down at our wrists. _"I could unlink you, but this would force Raphael back to his original plane. The link is the only thing that allows Raphael to exist on this plane."_

"Great," I said. I turned to ol' Raphie boy. He's brows were furrowed in consternation. I'm sure I knew what was going on in his head. If we both manage to make it out alive, then kudos to us. But if not, then how was our family going to handle it? The both of us? Poor Sensei had enough tragedy in his lifetime. And Leo and Donnie didn't need any. If he stayed, he knew the chances of getting us out of here alive. He'd been fighting with me since the beginning, had seen how many Yasha we were supposed to go against. Even if the Yasha did turn and fight each other, it still meant that we had thousands of the demons to keep from tearing us apart with their claws. And they get more and more ferocious the longer you go against them. If he went back, he'd not be able to help me fight. But if he stayed, then who knew what would happen to our family.

I didn't want Raphie to die. (Heck, I didn't want to die myself, but it wasn't like they were just going to let me go home.)

"Raph, you should probably go."

Raph slapped me over the head. "Mike, there ain't no way I'm gonna leave ya here. I'm stayin.'"

"Ow!" I rubbed the back of my head. Then I muttered, "Like I want you here with me?" In truth, I felt relieved that he chose to keep me company.

Raph didn't answer. The Baku didn't give him a chance. It pronounced its final words: _"Very well. Your brother will stay with you. Once we are certain that all the Yasha are in this plane, we will allow you to leave. Unfortunately we cannot assist you, as our very presence in this plane will deter any Yasha from entering. We will be keeping any Yasha from escaping. Fortune be with you."_

In a snap, the Baku had gone for good. All that stood in its place was swirling darkness.

I rolled my eyes. "No help huh?" Turning to Raph I ribbed him in the side. "It's kinda like a final test, you know?"

Raph ribbed me back. "Yeah, 'cept this one's a pass/fail."

A bright flash nearly blinded me. After rubbing my eyes, I looked.

A Yasha.

"That didn't take too long." I said, going into fighting-mode once again.


	10. Silence

_**Chapter 10 - Silence**_

_Murphey's Law sucks!!_

Donatello was cursing their good-for-nothing luck, knowing exactly what Raph would say in a moment like this. "The ol' turtle-luck's runnin' true to form!"

And Don would have to agree.

It just so happened that their bikes were running low on gas that day. Donatello had barely caught it in time, after about a half an hour of traveling, discovering that the gas gauge was on less than a quarter of a tank. Leo's bike had even less than that. Certainly not enough to make it to the lab. They gave up a few minutes of their precious head start to siphon gas from Donatello's bike to Leo's, while Master Splinter kept watch on the tunnel behind them. Faintly they could hear the hellish humming of the Yasha far behind them. The plan was for Leo to ride on ahead, as he had the open wounds that the Yasha would undoubtedly go for. He looked a little pale, but he'd stopped bleeding freely at least.

He insisted, "I'm fine. Sensei, don't worry about me. I can handle it."

Master Splinter shook his head. "I am coming with you, my son." The look on his face told them that no amount of arguing would change his mind. Donatello was not wounded, and so the Yasha wouldn't pay him much attention. All three of them knew that Leonardo would have died if Master Splinter hadn't gotten to him as fast as he did to fend off the ravenous demons. Master Splinter would not lose another son.

Donatello would get to the old Foot genetics lab on foot. His other job was to make sure they had all twenty-seven Yasha in tow. Who knew what would happen if they began to lose interest, and decide that they wanted to go explore a little, only to discover the countless living beings inhabiting the biosphere of the earth.

Leonardo and Master Splinter took off with a roar of the engine.

Donatello began to head down the tunnel at a jog. He figured that as soon as their humming grew louder, he'd hide, and capture one by surprise. Then he'd do what Leonardo had done.

Hurt it really bad.

If he could get the thing to make that awful ear-bending racket, then he might be able to get the rest to freeze up enough for him to count the demons to make sure every one of them had followed them. If not, he wasn't sure what they were going to do. Maybe try to capture the ones that did follow, and then go hunt for the ones that didn't.

"I think this is about the worst plan I've ever come up with!" Donatello yelled to himself.

Now that he had a chance to think, just letting his muscles go on auto-pilot as he ran down the tunnel, he let his mind turn to his brothers.

It was his fault.

He was the one that convinced Splinter that he needed to let his sons go. How could he have done that to them? What if they were in serious trouble? What if they were already dead? If they were…

Their blood would be directly on his hands.

Yes, he knew that he'd had to tell Sensei to close the 'link' that connected the Yasha world to theirs, because they were coming through. But could there have been another solution? Any other solution?

Why did he have to sacrifice his brothers? Why?

Donatello felt a tightening up in his chest. The consequences of his actions hadn't hit him until just then. Mikey… Raph… what had he done to them? He'd essentially cut their lifeline of support. But he hadn't really realized what he'd done when he told Master Splinter to close the portal. He knew in his head he'd done something horrible, but subconsciously, he expected Mikey and Raph just to walk through the door. Just like how he'd forgotten that Leonardo had been gone for months, when he'd left on his pilgrimage to see the Ancient One. It hadn't felt like he was gone. Somehow, his subconscious had thought that Leo was still there.

He'd thought his two brothers were just hanging around the corner, about to appear.

A trembling in his lip brought his focus from the inward to the outward again. A good thing too, for just then, he heard the ghoul-ish humming behind him spike in decibels.

Quickly wiping his face, getting his watering eyes clear again, bringing his intense focus back in on the game at hand, he disappeared into the shadows.

He waited a little, listening intently, waiting for the precise moment to spring. Once he caught one, he would have no time to lose to get the Yasha screaming in pain, or else he knew he'd be just as cut up as Leonardo.

A white flash.

_Whoa!_ Donatello thought, _That demon's going _fast!

Another streak of white flew by. Tensing up like a wound-up spring, Donatello got ready to jump.

A white flash, a burst of energy, a green and purple blur, a yell.

He had the thing in his iron grip before it knew its forward motion had even been halted. Then Donatello struck, his open-palmed hand hammering his face, his attack powered by more than just strength. His blow would have broken the bones of any ordinary being. As it was, and insanely high-pitched squealing rang out through the tunnel. It sounded like tortured metal breaking apart.

He attacked at such speed that even the demons that had flashed by weren't able to escape the pitch that wracked their suddenly material bodies with so much pain that they couldn't function.

Bringing a crushing hand down upon his victim once again, Donatello's fingers embedded into the white flesh of the creature he held, just like Leonardo's own fingers had. The intensity of the squeal heightened, making Donatello squint in pain, his ears feeling as though they were about to burst. Through his squinted eyes, Donatello quickly made a head count of the paralyzed demons.

Twenty-six floating slowly in the air. That made twenty-seven, including the one that Donatello still held.

Twenty-seven that they needed to contain somehow.

Letting the shrieking Yasha go, Donatello sprinted ahead of the mob, trying to avoid becoming the next target. As the squealing died away to the ever present humming, Donatello once again hid in the shadows, knowing that they would be coming at him full-speed, angrier than ever.

Luckily, even through the pain, the Yasha had only one goal.

Leonardo.

As soon as they became able to move once again, they made tracks down the tunnel. Occasionally they would pause to ingest the infrequent ruby-colored drops on the ground, which glistened more and more the closer they moved to their desire.

Donatello moved out of the shadows once he was sure they'd passed him up. It wouldn't be good if he'd gotten injured before they could put his plan into motion. His mind began to branch into different thoughts as he continued to run. His breath came hard, and his legs were beginning to burn.

A certain scene played through his mind over and over again…

"_Leo, if we don't get the portal shut now more Yasha will get through. They'll kill people!"_

_"But the Baku said that Yasha needed..." Leo's eyes had opened wide._

_He's whispered dangerously, "The Baku _lied_."_

Something had been nagging at the back of Donatello's brain, tickling until he finally had a few moments to focus on it. Had the Baku really lied to them? If that were so, then why hadn't they been able to see the Yasha until they had come through the portal?

The very first time the Yasha had tried to attack his brother, Mikey had been the only one that could see it. It acted just as the Baku had described, trying to evoke the 'fear' emotion, to be able to interact with its victim. Something else had to be the cause of their current ability to interact with the people of this plane without the use of fear.

Donatello hadn't even known what the Yasha had looked like until they came through portal. Maybe that was what made the difference! Demonic spirits they may be, and they might have limited reaction with earth's plane normally. However, just as a negative sign could make all the difference in a mathematical equation, the portal must have been the trigger that allowed the Yasha to interact on the same plane as the earth without the necessary emotional trigger that had acted like a link before. Maybe that was the reason they'd been more physical than unsubstantial.

Almost there, knowing that there were just a few turns before the chasm that separated the tunnel with the entrance to the lab, Donatello felt hope. He grasped onto the thin thread of hope that if the Baku hadn't actually lied, then maybe, just maybe, his missing brother's lives weren't lost after all. He felt his shoulders lighten a little.

His lungs burned now, but he pushed himself farther, knowing he needed to get to that lab as soon as possible. He'd have to figure out a way across the chasm, and avoid getting slashed open at the same time. The Yasha would obviously already be there. If only their bikes hadn't been out of gas! They'd be there already, and hopefully already had set up the trap.

Skidding to a halt, Donatello found he'd come to the edge of the chasm. Drawing out his grappling hook, Donatello began to swing it around. He couldn't hear the inhuman howling that had invariable accompanied the Yasha wherever they went. Not having time to dwell on that problem, he threw the hook over to the stalagmite that jutted

out of the ground on the other side of the chasm. It hooked, and Donatello jumped Tarzan-style swinging across the length of the chasm, praying to high heaven that he wouldn't be caught in mid air by one of the demons.

He landed on the other side without a hitch.

All was quiet.

Too quiet.

_What the shell?_

Donatello felt goose-pimples rise on his skin, and his heart stop.

What would cause the creatures to stop humming??

He went into a sprint instantly, a new burst of adrenaline giving his legs a speed that until now he'd never thought he could acquire.

* * *

Claws.

That was the trick. These things had claws that cats would be jealous of; being able to avoid them would be the key to making it through the ninth inning alive.

But, of course, avoiding the claws was not going to be that easy. For starters, it seemed the entire population of the Yasha had tripled since the last time Raph and I butted heads with them. Where before we'd been caught in the middle of a hellish battlefield, now we were swimming in them.

Overhead, they glowed, the dim light making them appear as though they were glowing like iridescent light bulbs. With so many demons, the 'sky' of the Yasha-trap plane we were on lit up like New York City at night. They surrounded us; above, below, every direction. We were drowning in them.

I resisted the urge to hold my breath.

They began their attack as before, the ethereal humming emanating from their bodies, sub-bass, making my chest vibrate. Circling Raph and me, they tentatively began to close in. Raph and I had our backs to each other, ready and waiting for the fun to start. I knew he had my back. He knew I had his. It was a brother thing.

"Do you think they'll attack themselves like last time?" I queried, hoping they would. It made things so much easier last time!

Raph just shrugged.

We waited like that, as tense as cats in water, waiting for the Yasha to make their move. We didn't want to attack them, knowing that doing so would begin the battle sooner. Seeing as how this was a waiting game, we were going for as little battle as possible.

A minute. Still they circled.

I almost expected Raph to yell something rude at them, knowing how much he hates to wait for the battle to come to him. But he knew the price for making any mistakes was going to be high, so he kept himself under control.

Two minutes.

_Geeze, this is almost more tiring than just fighting!_

Three minutes.

"Why aren't they attacking?" I asked Raph.

I felt him shift in his fighting stance. "Dunno."

Four.

Then it happened.

Silence.

The drone of the endless hum that always accompanied the Yasha disappeared.

I nearly lowered my defense, surprised. "What the…?"

Without further warning, they silently swooped in for the attack.

I responded quickly, feeling Raph do the same thing. Blocking the initial attack from an oncoming demon, I roundhoused the next one straight into another demon headed my way. Their hair poofed again.

What happened next felt like an explosion. In fact, I think I found out later that it really was an explosion—of sorts.

First, a wave of sound coming out of the void knocked both Raph and I clean off our feet, tumbling head-over-heels for about fifty feet or so. (My big heavy brother landing on me—not so fun.)

I shoved him off me, and after we'd picked ourselves up, I saw something pretty…well—disgusting. But it gave me a (horrible) idea.

The Yasha I had previously kicked, making it sail right into another Yasha, had been impaled.

A four-fingered hand of claws protruded from its chest like some sort of spiny flower. A horrible shrieking wail came from the injured creature, and it squirmed, hanging from the arm of the Yasha behind it. The noise made the Yasha pause in their tracks, falling out of the air, frazzled with pain. A few seconds later, the glowing white light from the wounded demon grew faint, and then blinked out.

"Whoa, did that thing just die?" Raph asked, incredulous.

I blinked. "Ew…'

The living Yasha let its dead race member ooze off its arm, which dropped like a white pile of mucus, landing on the ground with a splat.

"Ugh…" I moaned, feeling my stomach turn with disgust. "Okay, that was just nasty. I think I'm gonna yarp."

Raph glanced around at the remaining endless Yasha—who slowly stirred from being temporarily paralyzed at the horrible sound their dead companion had made—and said, "Man, I wish we could get them _all_ to do that."

"What?" I questioned, "Impale their bodies like a finger picking its…" An idea hit me. "Wait…a weapon!"

Raph made a face—still watching the Yasha as they became pliable again. "What you mean…?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Mike, that's just sick."

* * *

It made no sense. One second, the demons had being doing what they do best: humming demonically. The next second, Leonardo almost felt like he'd gone deaf. The silence bothered him, but he knew that it wasn't the his ears failing, because he could hear the slap of his bare feet against stone as he fought with his sensei in the confined space of the foot genetics lab. He had an idea of what Don was planning, and he hoped to high heaven that it worked.

Before they'd reached the lab, Leonardo knew that the Yasha followed maybe a few minutes behind them. Leonardo also knew that they would be held back a little if Donatello's plan succeeded, giving them a little extra time. With that added time, Leonardo and Splinter would prepare everything as much as possible. They had two jobs: find a working crystal, and stay alive until Donnie could get there.

After jumping the chasm with the motorcycle, Leonardo and Splinter entered the lab. Sensei remained in the doorway, prepared to defend the lab with everything he had, while Leonardo looked for a crystal. It was easy enough to find working crystals, as Donatello had left a stash of them up in the lab after all was said and done, knowing he'd want to come down there later and study the technology used for creating the force field. Leonardo knew that it would seem rather ironic to Donatello that the first time he'd need them was because he wanted to activate the force field for protection, rather than for study.

Feeling weakened from the loss of blood, Leonardo moved to the control center for the force-field, and placed the crystal in the center of the contact nodes. He desperately hoped that he wasn't putting it in upside down. Donatello would know if it was or not, because he'd studied the crystals enough to know by sight which ends of the crystals were polar. Leonardo hadn't cared enough to do the same, but now he really wished he had. A delayed second could mean the difference to their very survival.

Man, he felt so weak.

Leonardo sat on the ground, putting his head in his hands.

Luckily his deep wounds had finally clotted, and ended the blood flow. He wasn't sure how much blood he'd lost, but he knew that he couldn't afford to loose any more. But once the Yasha came in with their insanity, he knew he wouldn't be able to defend himself as well as he'd once been able to.

His head ached, throbbing from the blow he'd received, the loss of blood.

Humming. Bass, vibrating.

_Here they come_.

He stood, getting into a defensive stance, and waiting for his attackers to arrive. Sensei tensed up too, laying his ears back. The noise made his keen ears hurt. Leonardo felt the wind first, howling through the doorway. He could see Sensei's whiskers whipping around his face from the strong breeze.

The Yasha were coming, and they were coming _fast_.

A white light shone through the doorway, nearly blinding Sensei. Squinting his eyes, he crouched into position, ready to defend his wounded son with all the faculties he possessed. Leonardo knew he was in trouble. He felt weak, and light-headed.

They slammed into Sensei first with more force than a speeding train would. Luckily, Splinter had been prepared for the impact, sparing his body from any traumatic damage, but it didn't save him from being blown off his feet, and slammed into the wall opposite him.

With Splinter out of their direct path, they headed for Leonardo.

There are times in your life when you feel like you are being asked for more than you are able to give, yet for some reason, the fates just don't care. You must give. Leonardo pulled all the stops from his reserves of strength, reaching deep down inside his inner core to bring forth streaming fire to his limbs. It burned away all feelings of tiredness, and light-headedness. With this deep-dug power, he threw himself into the fight once more.

The Yasha, while knowing their strength lay in numbers, couldn't resist but to bat away their opponents vying for a taste of the delectable blood. This is probably the key factor for how Leonardo was able to protect himself. Although all his skills came to the surface, his defenses flawless, his attacks sound, the crazed and viciously hungry demons acted as a wounded animal—more dangerous, more desperate. This and the fact that no matter what technique Leonardo sprung upon his enemies, they could not be killed by his mortal hands. Remaining on the defensive, he could feel his energies begin to drain.

Splinter did not remain out of the fight for long. Stunned from the impact against the wall, he waited for the white pain clouding his eyes to dissipate, bringing his center of focus back, his years of meditation enabling him to push the pain back faster than it seemed could be possible. This accomplished, he attacked, placing himself in between the Yasha and his son.

"Don had better get here soon," Leonardo panted with exertion. He punched a Yasha directly in the face, which would have knocked it senseless had it the physical properties of a human. All it did was shake off its pain, although its hair stood on end for a while, and moved in to Leonardo again.

Splinter put the demon down with a complicated move involving a torso twist, and a snap from his tail. It writhed on the ground in pain, the decibels of noise rising. "Your brother will be here, Leonardo." Splinter said, panting with exertion.

Leonardo felt the fire in his veins begin to dissipate. If Donnie didn't show soon, he would tire beyond his ability to protect himself. Which, in a word, would be _bad._

Abruptly, it felt as though Leonardo had gone deaf. The consistent buzz that altered in audibility, seemed as though someone had flipped the 'off' switch, and all became mute. However, Leonardo could still hear the sound of his breathing, the dull thud of fists against demon flesh, the slap of his feet on the stone floor of the lab, Sensei's power yells.

_What the…_

Another slap of feet alerted Leo, but he couldn't look away from his attackers to confirm that Donatello had just arrived. But he didn't need to. Donnie's yell, and a thud resounding on the floor were tell-tale enough for him.

"Leo, what happened?" Donatello's voice rang across the nearly silent room. "Why'd they go silent?" He shoved his way through the room to his brother's side.

Leonardo grimaced as another claw found its way to his skin again, "Agh! I don't know!"

The other Yasha redoubled their effort to get to Leo. Splinter's hands became a blur, attacking with more energy than even his two sons had thought possible. The Yasha fell back a little.

There was no time.

Donatello let the matter of the silence drop, and leapt over the consol to the center of the device to bring up the shield. He looked at the controls, knowing that he was being ignored by the Yasha because of Leonardo. No time.

He lifted up the cover to the control and looked.

"Oy."

* * *

It took maybe three seconds of full-out running to get to the oozy, disgusting pile of Yasha gunk, to look it over.

"Eh, Mike. I don't think this plan o'yours is gonna work." Raph poked the pile with a nauseated look on his face. It jiggled back.

My stomach roiled around a little. "Bleck!"

Something sub-bass-like began to vibrate in my ears again. I looked up.

"Uh-oh."

"What?" Raph looked up too.

They were moving again, and this time, the sub-bass humming heightened to a squeal. They circled, fast, and came in swooping.

I crouched, ready for the onslaught. "What are the chances of us being able to do that with _live_ Yasha?"

Raph managed to crouch just as the first wave of them hit. They came at us bearing claws and sporting hideous bug-like faces. I grinned. Weapons. Built in ones too.

Simultaneously, Raph and I leapt into the air, grasping the wrists of a few Yasha. Suddenly, the noise dropped to nothing once again, yet the onslaught continued. Their claws wriggled in my grasp, trying to get at the ever-present Double-Mark on my arm.

Raph and I landed both with a Yasha in tow. Raph looked around in confusion; I was confused too. Why did they go silent again?

I shook my head, still grasping tightly the Yasha in my arms. That didn't matter right now.

"Ready bro?" I asked, brandishing my Yasha's wrists.

Raph's reply came in the form of a growl, plunging his own Yasha's clawed arm into the chest of my Yasha's body. I made sure that I wasn't in the way of any grasping claws.

An explosion in my face nearly blinded me. Raph and I were blown off our feet again, and sent into a crash-course with three more Yasha that had been zooming our direction. The blast knocked the rest of the Yasha back a good few hundred feet as well, their hair puffing up in pain, immobilized and reduced to writhing once more.

Raph had landed on me again.

Something oozy was in my fingers.

"Raph, get off me…" I said, feeling my stomach twist violently.

Raph knew the signs, and before I knew it, he had me in a kneeling position, my face pointed well-away from him.

I didn't have anything in my stomach to empty, so I ended up just dry-heaving. Raph still hadn't let go of his wriggling Yasha, and once I was done, he decided to just off it right then and there. He took the thing's own hand, and jammed it into its chest.

A third explosion this time nearly knocked the wind out of me.

Or was it just Raph landing on me again?

I shoved him off, trying to catch my breath. He stood, letting go of the now slimy pile of Yasha mucus, breathing heavily as well. "Dang, these things really pack a punch."

"Yeah, I'm going to get a concussion if we keep doing this."

Raph nodded looking around.

"Hey, it'll keep us alive for a while, won't it?"

I looked around too. Every single Yasha seemed to be writhing in pain, taking longer to recover than they did last time.

Maybe Raph had a point.

Since when did that ever happen?

* * *

He was nearly there. Donatello had managed to reconfigure the sequence that started the shield process. Instead of it projecting a cylindrically-shaped field, leaving the top and the bottom open for the Yasha to escape through, he changed the initiation protocol to project a spherical shape, thus trapping their enemies inside. It took nearly two minutes, extremely fast work for not having any prior knowledge of how the device worked. But they were two minutes that his brother and father did not have.

Splinter had taken most of the Yasha on himself, giving Donatello freedom to work his plan, and Leonardo the rest that he so desperately needed. It had been odd, hearing no sound coming from the creatures that had been so constantly raucous, for Donatello to work for two minutes in almost complete silence (excluding, of course, the grunts and "ki-yah's" emitted by Splinter and Leonardo). Splinter protecting his son came with a price, as his enemies did not die, nor even stayed out of the battle for long. He'd been wounded by the deep piercing claws of the mindlessly desperate and vicious demons, along his side and his back. He bled a little, but it was enough to stir the Yasha into an—if it were even possible— an even higher level of unbelievable frenzy of mouth-frothing insanity. Yet Splinter maintained his focus, not allowing the situation to distract him from keeping Leonardo safe.

All Donatello needed to do was to manually override the sequence that made the generated field expand outward. Thirty seconds, and he'd reconfigured the system to maintain the field at a consistent size.

He slammed down the control panel cover, and yelled over to his two family members. "Ready! All we have to do is—"

He was cut off by an explosion of sound that knocked him off his feet, and into the generator's contact nodes. It also blew Leonardo and Splinter into the walls opposite the blast. The crystal fell out of the contact nodes, and onto the floor somewhere.

While trying to regain his breath, Donatello noticed that the Yasha had also been paralyzed again with pain.

Splinter recovered first, as he'd landed well. Leonardo was next, because his shell had taken most of the hit. Donatello had landed on his side, and had fallen to the ground. His father and brother helped him up to his feet. He gasped for breath, holding his side with his left hand.

"Wha—what was that?" Donatello queried after getting his breath back.

Master Splinter surveyed the area. The Yasha had begun to make their humming, sub-bass sound once again. They moved sluggishly, but with growing speed, and growing intensity of sound.

"Never mind that now, what is it that we must do, Donatello?" Splinter questioned with urgency.

Donatello nodded his head toward the ground, "We've got to find that crystal that got dislodged. Then I can activate the field. It should trap the Yasha inside it… but it will also trap us too."

Leonardo looked worried. But he said, "But at least the Yasha won't be able to hurt anyone else."

"There might be a way for us to escape the sphere—"

Sudden silence cut Donatello off in his explanations. They looked around at the demons, who'd nearly shaken off the pain, yet they'd gone silent again.

Leonardo tensed, hoping that another explosion was not about to blast their way.

Unfortunately, he was right. About two seconds later another explosion, which seemed to emanate from the Yasha themselves, a white burst of sound that swept the three of them off their feet once more. This time they were slammed against the side of the generator, and landing on the floor.

Wearily pulling himself to his feet, Leonardo surveyed the Yasha. The second blast seemed to injure them more than the first one, they still writhed in pain, falling to the floor.

_At least they aren't attacking us now._ Leonardo thought with slight satisfaction.

The third explosion came from out of nowhere, as the humming hadn't returned to warn the three mutants of its inevitable coming. They gained more bruises compliments of the field generator once again, and fell to the floor.

Something sparkled in Donatello's peripheral vision. The crystal! He grabbed it as fast as he could, and stood in spite of the pain, climbing to the top of the generator to replace it in the center of the contact nodes.

That done, and the Yasha still in recovery from the third unexplainable godsend of an explosion, Donatello jumped down from the top of the generator to initiate the field.

"Okay, I'll create a time-delay for the initiation of the field. Five seconds should be enough for us to get out of range of the sphere before it captures the Yasha."

He looked at Splinter.

Splinter nodded, "Do it."

It was a simple matter of pressing a few buttons on the control consol. Once he'd finished, the three of them moved to the doorway of the lab, to observe.

The Yasha hadn't even been able to move yet. The blue energy of the sphere caught them all, without incident. Good timing too. Another explosion coming from the Yasha burst out, but the sphere contained it somehow.

The three looked at each other, breathing hard, but with looks of relief on their faces.

"It worked." Splinter said, the tone of his voice speaking volumes more than any vocal implication of how glad he was that the hard part was over. Their ordeal had been hard, but neither Leonardo nor Donatello had died through this trying experience.

They watched the globe, as more explosions ricocheted against the walls of the sphere.

Leonardo looked at Donatello. "Now what?"

Donatello shrugged.

Sitting down on the floor right where he stood, he finally felt as though he could breathe.

Suddenly his chest tightened up all over again.

Splinter saw the look on his son's face, and knew exactly what he was thinking. His two lost sons. If they had to deal with anything like they'd had to deal with… despair filled his chest, constricting it. How could they have survived something like this?

Donatello sat on the ground too, looking at the grim faces of his father and brother. He didn't feel the same despair they did, because he'd come a conclusion.

"The Baku didn't lie."

Leo looked up at him, something wet shining on his cheek. "What?"

Donatello paused for a second. He had Splinter's attention too. "The Baku didn't lie."

"But," Leonardo argued, "How could the Yasha have been able to attack us then? We needed no 'Mark' for them to be able to kill us.

Donatello nodded, "Yes, but if the Baku had lied, how do you explain the behavior of the Yasha before they had come through the portal? They acted exactly how the Baku had described."

Leonardo listened intently; Splinter had a focused look on his face as well.

Continuing, Donatello listed a few explanations off his fingers. "I think that it wasn't until the Yasha came through the portal that they were able to react with us. It must have changed them somehow, made them more physical than spirit."

He didn't voice his hope though. The hope that if the Baku hadn't lied, then maybe his brothers were okay.

Splinter nodded. "It does seem like a logical explanation." He too knelt down, resting from the incredible exertion he'd had to put forth. The pain of his wounds began to increase as his adrenaline dissipated.

Leonardo spoke with a tired voice. "We need to figure out how to get rid of these things." He jabbed a thumb at the sphere full of exploding Yasha.

Splinter closed his eyes in contemplation for a moment. Then he looked at Donatello. "Is there a way to make the sphere move without shutting down the field?"

Not knowing where this line of questioning was headed, Donatello shrugged. "Maybe. I think I could figure out a way to adjust the projection modules."

Leonardo looked at Master Splinter. "You have an idea?"

Master Splinter nodded.

"My sons, it is now time to meditate."


	11. Finally Safe

**_Chapter 11 – Finally Safe_**

Ugh. I felt punch-drunk. Every time we caused another Yasha sound-wave explosion, we would be knocked off our feet without fail.

Raph stopped landing on me.

I'd stopped counting how many Yasha we'd killed. Luckily, each explosion seemed to injure the entire population more and more, they eventually stopped even writhing too much. We'd just be able to take them from where they were lying on the ground, and kill them. I'd long stopped being grossed out by the fact that they turn into slimy piles of goo when they die.

Raph reached down to pick up another unfortunate victim.

"Wait, Raph!" I panted, feeling my head pound, and my legs wobble.

Raph looked at me, and I could see the same weariness in his eyes.

"Why don't we just wait for a while?"

He dropped the Yasha he'd picked up, and nodded. "Sure. Why not?"

We sat down on the ground, breathing heavily, keeping half an eye on the Yasha just in case they began to recover any time soon. All was silent. Almost peaceful.

Raph shifted a little, surveying the landscape. The ground was littered with Yasha, because of the many explosions we'd caused; all the Yasha were too injured to remain air born.

"Somethin'…somethin' ain't right." Raph said, more to himself than me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean?"

Raph shook his head back and forth, still looking around. "I mean, somethin' ain't right. We shoulda been sent back by now."

I looked around, still not understanding what he meant. "Why?"

Raph leaned back on his arms. "I mean, we're only here until all the Yasha get here, right?"

"Right…" I said, not knowing where he was headed with this.

"So then, if we're still here, more Yasha shoulda been coming into this… uh… this plane, I guess the Baku called it. They'd be flyin' around up there." He waved his left arm around at the dark sky.

Understanding finally dawned in my head. "Oh… 'cause they wouldn'ta been here during the explosions…"

"Right." Raph said.

We stayed in silence for a second or two. The Yasha still twitched on the ground, recovery coming very slowly.

"Well… now what?" I asked.

Raph stood, jerking my arm up with him. "Hey you!" He yelled to no one in particular. "Baku! They're all here now! Let us go home!'

No response.

"Damn you, let us go!" He growled at the sky.

Still nothing.

"Raph," I said, still sitting on the ground. "Maybe there are still more out there…"

Raph looked down at me. "If there _were_ more out there, they'd be coming _in here."_

I tugged my arm, and Raph sat back down, an angry and worried expression playing on his face.

"Don't worry bro, we'll get outta here."

"I hope so Mikey. I hope so."

* * *

It was working! Donatello had managed to figure out a way to move the sphere in whichever direction he wanted by pushing a few buttons, without having to shut off the field. Leonardo was resting, having been bandaged up by Donatello, feeling too weak to stand and help Donatello out, or anyone at the moment for that matter. Donatello had also bandaged Sense's wounds: the two deep gashes along his side and his left shoulder. Donatello himself had avoided getting scratched up, but he suspected that the reason for that was only because Leonardo had been wounded first. He had no doubt that he would have fared no better than Leo, and probably even worse, had he been in Leo's place. All their ears rang from the prolonged exposure to the explosions, and the shreiking that the Yasha made.

"I'm done sensei! It works!" Donatello called over from the control panel.

"Excellent, my son." Splinter spoke from where he was kneeling on the floor.

Donatello hopped over the panel, regretting this action as soon as he landed, feeling the many deep-tissue bruises that covered his sore body more acutely than ever. He knew it was going to take him a while to heal.

"Sensei, what exactly is it that we are going to do?" Leonardo asked from where he leaned against the wall.

Splinter felt hope well within his heart. "We are going to bring your brothers home, Leonardo."

Donatello knelt next to his sensei. "By creating that link again, right?"

"Precisely, my son."

"Then we'll move the sphere of Yasha through the portal, and get Raph and Mikey." Donatello began to work out the puzzle out loud.

"Correct."

"The sphere…" Leonardo said with a puzzled tone in his voice.

Splinter and Donatello looked over to the trapped Yasha, and saw that the explosions had ceased within the sphere. The Yasha had fallen to the bottom of the blue, shimmering globe, hardly moving. Only a twitch here and there alerted the three mutants to the fact that they were still living.

It was an enigma. The random explosions had been a constant for the last twenty minutes, continuing while Donatello bandaged Splinter and Leo, and continuing while Splinter instructed Donatello to manipulate the projector controls of the sphere, and while Donatello worked. The fact that they stopped was a great mystery.

Yet, Splinter felt that this was unimportant. Only bringing his sons back mattered to him. "We must begin," he told his sons, closing his eyes, and working on bringing himself into a deep state of meditation.

Leonardo merely closed his eyes, not having the energy to assume a proper meditative position. Donatello closed his eyes as well, urging his constantly on-the-go brain to clear.

* * *

"Raph, can you feel that?" I asked. I couldn't describe the feeling… almost as though someone were probing in the back of my mind with a cold finger.

"Uh… no."

I rubbed the back of my head with my hand.

It wouldn't go away!

"You sure you can't feel that?"

Raph was silent for a second, then he lifted his hand to rub the back of his head too.

"What is that?" He asked.

I shrugged.

The Yasha still hadn't been able to recover from the explosions that we'd caused. It had been a good five minutes since the last time we killed one of them. I wondered how long it would take. Hopefully a long time. I seriously didn't want to get back to exploding myself up. My headache was bad enough as it was.

It tickled a little. Rubbing the back of my head, I almost laughed at the feeling.

Raph looked more annoyed than anything, but I could tell that it tickled him a little too.

Raph's eyes opened wide.

"What?" I asked, thinking he'd seen the Yasha get on the move again.

"It's… It's them, Mike."

"Them who?" I asked, still feeling very confused.

Then I felt it too, a very familiar feeling wash over me. It was my brothers and Splinter! It was my family!

Closing my eyes, I expressed the thought, _Oh, guys, you have no idea how glad I am that you're there!_

A feeling of joy, love, relief, and strength flowed back into me. I could feel it coming from Raph too. Apparently my family was happy that I was here too.

A sound brought my attention back to where I was. I opened my eyes to see that portal again, a shimmering round light, through which, I could see Donnie, Leo, and Splinter.

Leo looked worse for the wear, not even in a meditative position, and covered in bandages. Master Splinter had a few bandages on him as well. And Donnie looked pretty banged up. They all did.

"What the shell happened, guys?" I asked.

They opened their eyes swiftly, as thought they'd been startled a bit by my voice. Don stood, his grin almost swallowing his whole face. I stood too, as did Raph. Master Splinter was standing as well, tears shining in his eyes. Leonardo remained where he was, but he was looking me over with a fierce look. I'd seen him use that look once before, and that was when we'd just gotten Donnie back, after he'd been mutated by bishop. I knew he was glad to see Raph and me. I looked them over for a bit, feeling Raph by my side doing the same thing. I looked back to my grinning brother.

"You'd better be careful, Donnie." I told him. "Your face might just stick like that."

I heard him laugh, the echoing sound making it seem as though he were at the end of a very long tunnel.

"My sons, you must come through the portal." Master Splinter said, urgency in his tone.

I nodded, and looked at Raph.

"Ladies first." He said, with a grin on his face.

I could have bopped him one, but I knew I'd probably get bopped back, so I just rolled my eyes.

I moved to the portal and tried to stick my arm through it. Just like last time, something kept me from moving through. A white flash and a sub-bass sound happened every time I tried to go through it and something kept me from moving forward.

"Guys, I can't!" I said, feeling my hope diminish.

Raph interrupted. "Let me try."

Again, when he tried to stick his arm through the portal, his whole arm met with some sort of resistance, and the flashy-sub-bassy thing happened again.

Vibrations rattled my chest again.

I felt my eyes widen.

"Oh oh…" I swiftly turned around, jerking Raph along with me, to see that the Yasha laying on the ground were beginning to rise again, and from the way their eyes glared at Raph and me, I could tell that they weren't happy. At all.

"My sons!" Splinter's echoing voice came through the portal.

Raph and I turned to look at him.

"The Yasha entered into our world through the portal before, and we must return them now." He motioned behind him to a blue sphere full of Yasha.

"Man, they must have quite a story to tell…" Raph said, with a whistle.

No kidding! I mean, what was that sphere thing?

It moved closer to the portal. I kept an eye on the recovering Yasha as well, but I couldn't help but stare as the blue shimmering sphere thingy filled with Yasha moved closer and closer to the portal.

_Since when did my world jump to Star Trek time?_

Raph pulled me out of the way as the thing came through the portal, the sphere not re-appearing as it came through to our side. It shoved all the Yasha through.

The noise level began to heighten, and the Yasha that had been inside the sphere shook violently, their arms flailing every direction.

"Get ready, Mike." Raph said, putting up his fists once again.

"Right." I said wearily, getting into the defensive once again. I could really feel the drain on my energy. "Get ready to get blown up all over the place again."

All went dark.

I tried to cry out, but I couldn't. I didn't even feel Raph connected to me anymore. Slowly, I felt panic begin to take over, I couldn't feel myself moving or breathing. I could only think.

A whispery voice floated to me in my mind. It said, _"Your lives have been rendered in return for your services. Many thanks. We are forever in your debt."_

A white light flashed before my eyes, blinding me, and I was falling.

I landed on my shell, and heard a thud right next to my right ear.

"Raph? Mikey?" It was Leo. He didn't sound distant. He sounded like he was right there!

I groaned, rubbing my eyes, and then looked around.

First, I saw a crumbling stone ceiling with chunks of debris falling from it. Then I saw three faces that I hadn't seen in who knows how long (at least not without a portal in between.) They were smiling at me.

I felt Leo grab me up, putting a protective arm around my chest, and squeezing. He didn't squeeze very tight, but tight enough for me to feel a little squished. I could see Raph getting a similar treatment from Don; only it looked as though Don were squeezing the wind right out of him.

"Donnie…" he gasped, trying to get air.

Don merely squeezed harder.

I looked up at Master Splinter.

He stood, his face beaming with relief. I could see tears in his eyes, and the look only a father that had both his sons returned to him could have. In seconds, my eyes were brimming with tears as well. It was all over.

"I'm home, dad."

He didn't say a word. He grabbed me up into his arms, and held me tight, as though he would never let go.

For the first time in a long time, I felt safe.


	12. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

It took a week or two for us to get our mojo back. Poor Splinter ended up getting an infection in the cuts that he'd received. Leo, although he had far more gouges than Splinter had, somehow managed not getting any infections at all. Don said that considering the fact that he'd lost so much blood, it could have been very bad for him if he had. Both Raph and I were exhausted—and had unending headaches from the sound-concussions that we'd put ourselves through—and Donnie had serious bruising from the punishment he'd taken when we'd started blowing the Yasha all up. I think we all must have slept for at least four days straight.

The link between Raph and me finally went away, a couple hours after we'd been unceremoniously dumped on the floor of the lab. I was glad to finally have use of that one arm again—and between you and me, Raph doesn't smell so great, so getting out of nose-reach of him was an extra bonus.

The Marks on my arm slowly began to fade after the fifth day of being back at the lair. I was actually getting used to having them on my arm, but was glad to finally see them go. They turned a shade of brown, and I could tell that they would slowly revert back to green. I guess that meant that I was in the clear with the Yasha. I swear, if I never heard another fluty, whispery voice, it would be too soon.

Most of the time, my family wouldn't talk about the experience we'd had. It was like we were just trying to forget it most of the time, and get on with our lives.

That's harder to do than some people might think. I've noticed that the shadows seem to bother me more now than they have for a long time. I'd sometimes lay awake at night with the covers up to my nose, trying to shake off this creepy feeling of being watched. During nights like that, I'd go to Don's room.

He was the turtle to ask to make sense of any of it. I found out from a few late-night discussions with him about how the weird freaky portal had acted like a link between planes, so the Yasha could go through it, and be able to wreak havoc on this side of things. I also found out why I'd been on a different plane in the first place—Donnie explained to me that it was because of the Double Marks. That was confusing, and it took a while for me to get it. Just like when he tried to explain the reason that the Yasha seemed to all explode if one of their own was killed. I never did get the explanation for that though, so I'm not even going to try and explain it myself.

One night, I found him up sitting on a chair at his lab table. He wasn't doing anything. Just staring off into space.

"Don?" I asked him, waving a hand in front of his face, trying to rid him of the blank expression.

His eyelids fluttered. He looked at me, asking. "What's the matter Mikey? Can't sleep again."

I nodded, rubbing my tired eyes. "Not that I wouldn't _like_ to sleep a little."

He understood. I could tell that he'd been having a hard time sleeping as well. The dark circles under his eyes were a big tip-off. I couldn't blame him. Out of everyone, I think he'd been taking the events of the previous week a little harder than anyone, even Leo or Splinter. He'd been unusually quiet and more antisocial than normal for my brainy brother.

I felt the silence begin to get uncomfortable.

Shifting a little on my feet, I let the silence stay quiet. For about two more seconds.

Then I thought, _Ah, to shell with it all!_

I bapped him one over the head.

"Ow!" He protested, looking at me with a surprised look. "What was that for?"

"I," I said dramatically, "challenge you, sir, to a duel!"

He looked blank for a second, and then finally understood what I meant. He looked relieved to finally be able to do something, and replied by not saying anything at all. He stood, and began to run. I ran too, up the stairs to my room where I kept my skateboard, and grabbed my 'chucks. When I came back downstairs, Don had his bike strapped to his back, with his bo in hand.

Don looked up to Leo and Raph's rooms. "We gonna let those bums sleep in?"

I looked up too. Technically, it generally was dangerous to your health to wake a sleeping Raph, but he'd be mad that he missed it. Don and I both nodded, and then made our way to their respective rooms. Don took Leo, dragging him out of bed by his ankles. Leo hadn't really been asleep anyway. He was up in two seconds. Raph, on the other hand, was sound asleep. He'd practically been sleeping for a week straight. I decided it would be unwise to drag Raph unceremoniously out of bed by his ankles. So I whacked him one with my chuck.

"Ow!" a roar of protest came from the lump under the blankets. I was out of the room before he had jumped out of bed, angry, and yelling threats.

"You gotta catch me first bro!" I said, streaking by Leo and Don, and making my way to the skateboard haven.

Raph grabbed his skates and his sai, determined to turn me into a walking bruise, following me with alarming speed. Don and Leo followed behind at high speed.

When I'd reached the juncture of skateboard mania, I didn't slow down one bit. I just threw my skateboard to the ground and headed for the mini bowl. I had one up on Raph. See he had to take the time to put his blades on, or else he'd never be able to reach me.

Leo and Don arrived, Don unfolding his bike, and popping a wheelie, headed for the bowl too. Leo jumped on his scooter, making sure to impress us all with an awesome grind along the handrails, drawing out his katana. I already had my chucks at the ready. Donatello felt it productive to use his bo like a lance. Once Raph finally got his blades on, he came at me without any warning at all, sais drawn.

He didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes told me that I was going to get it unless I could keep well away from him.

So it began. For a while, we weren't interested in beating each other. Just being here, letting our weapons clang together, feeling our bodies cut through the air with our sheer speed. Well, everyone that is, except for Raph. He pretty much wanted to murder me for waking him up like that.

Soon, however, our competitive natures began to take over, and we started fighting hard. Weapons clanging together began to be harder and harder to avoid, and I swear I almost lost my balance, and fell off my skateboard a few times.

It wasn't until an unexpected grappling hook was flung up to the ceiling, and with a mighty yell, our Sensei joined in the battle, nearly knocking Leo off his scooter, that the fight became intense. Well… after the initial shock of seeing Sensei join us in our competition wore off first.

One by one, we got knocked out of the competition. Raph first. Me next. Both of us had been knocked out of the running by Splinter who'd been swinging on the rope of the grappling hook.

I sat next to Raph, forgetting that he was going to hit me once I sat down.

Obviously he did.

"Ow!" I protested, but more out of habit than out of actual offense.

We sat in silence watching the rest of the battle on the catwalk above the bowl.

"Five bucks says Sensei wins." Raph said.

I rolled my eyes. If I had taken that bet, I'd have been five bucks in the hole.

Soon, my brothers and Sensei joined Raph and me on the catwalk, looking down on our very well-used junction.

Although we didn't say anything really, except maybe to be complimented or critiqued on our form and techniques by one another, it felt good to sit next to my family. It felt like healing.


End file.
